Red eye (The sequeal)
by GR-Rider
Summary: I'm going to tell you a story a longtime ago there was Red Eye who was formerly called Beast Boy this is his story.
1. Chapter 1

Ch.1: Resurgence

It was just another ordinary day in Jump City for the Titans. They received a routine call of the Hive Five robbing the First National Jump Bank. With Robin's signature "Titans Go!" they all leapt into action with Beast Boy Raven and Cyborg taking the T-Car while Robin took the R-cycle and Starfire flew to the scene.

"You know, you'd think the Hive Five would eventually learn not to ya know, not rob banks and stuff considering we're just gonna show up and stop them." The changeling commented as Cyborg sped towards the scene.

"Well some people just don't know when to quit Beast Boy, like with you constantly trying to make me laugh even though your jokes aren't funny at all." Raven responded in her dull monotone.

"Ouch, she burned you good grass stain." Cy commented from the driver's seat as he swerved through traffic in his 'baby'.

"Hah, hah very funny Rea, you know there may actually come a day when I stop trying to make you laugh and be a part of our dysfunctional little family and just let you rot away in that black void you call a room." Beast Boy shot back slightly angry.

"I'll be counting down the days Beast Boy, I'll be counting down the days." She replied in that same monotone.

In response, the green titan huffed and looked out the window with his arms crossed and huffed "Whatever you know you secretly love my jokes even if you won't actually admit it."

"Keep telling yourself that." She told him staring out her own window.

"Alright you two enough bickering we're here." Cyborg said pulling up to the bank at the same time as Robin apparently finished speaking to the policeman in charge of the blockade surrounding the building.

"Alright team, listen up." He said after everyone had gathered around him "The Hive Five are inside the First National and according to the police, Gizmo and the others are heavily armed this time around. So Beast Boy you're going to go in and scout out the bank. Look for where they are keeping the hostages, how heavily armed they are and so forth and then report back understood?"

"Got it, wish me luck guys." He said before turning into a green mouse and making his way up a drainage pipe. He heard everyone on his team wish him the best...except for a certain empath.

It wasn't until he was long gone that Raven whispered to herself "Be safe, Garfield."

In the form of a green mouse, Beast Boy snuck through the buildings ventilation system, looking through the grates to locate the hostages. As he went Beast Boy couldn't help but think to himself 'Dude, what is Raven's problem? I mean I do everything in my power to get her to come out of her shell and she still treats me like crap. Well, maybe what I told her in the T-car will sink in, though I doubt it.' He thought gloomily as he looked down into another section of the bank.

What he saw was Gizmo the pint-sized villain walking around on giant mechanical spider legs and Mammoth, who unless the green shapeshifters' eyes were deceiving him was hauling around an M134 or as it was more commonly called a Minigun.

'Dude, where in the hell did the HIVE Five get ahold of a Minigun? I need to warn rob right now!' BB thought, and he began to scamper back down the ventilation shaft, until he realized that if Mammoth was armed that heavily then the rest of the Hive were likely as well armed if not more so.

'I can't let them walk into this.' He thought desperately fearing for his surrogate families lives 'No, I think it's time I used some good ole fashioned Doom Patrol tactics...' he thought before taking the form of a fly and heading into the bank...

Raven was becoming impatient. "What's taking Beast Boy so long to get back here? He'd better not be doing anything stupid, because I am not healing him if he is." She remarked.

"Do not worry about Friend Beast Boy Raven; I'm sure he is fine." Starfire said soothingly though anyone could tell by looking at her face that she too was worried about the changeling.

"I'm not worried about Beast Boy Starfire." The empath responded stoically.

"Yes, and I am a Tamaranean muck beetle." the Tamaranean princess responded which earned her an eyeroll from the demoness.

Suddenly they heard the sound of gunfire from inside the bank and fearing the worst the rest of the Titans sprang into action. They were not prepared for what they found upon entering the bank. They found See-More, Billy Numerous, Private Hive and Kyd Wykkyd were already unconscious. Each was sporting a black eye and in Kyd's case, what appeared to be an arm fracture at the elbow if the way his arm bent was any indication. Next to them lay a pile of various weapons and some spent brass.

The Titans heard some gunfire from further on in the bank and rushed to the source of the sound. What they found were Mammoth and Gizmo the former using a Minigun and the latter a high powered laser attached to his backpack, to fire at a small green hummingbird. But thankfully, they kept missing by minuscule amounts.

"Titan's Go!" Robin yelled intending to provide backup for their green friend.

Instead the all too familiar battle cry halted the bird in midair for just a moment, which was just long enough for a certain pin-sized evil genius to blast the bird full on with his laser cannon.

"Eat that, snot-muncher." Gizmo gloated before he was promptly blasted into a wall by a combination of Cyborgs Sonic Cannon and a hail of Starbolts courtesy of Starfire.

"You shall pay for what you have done to Friend Beast Boy! So I swear by X'hall!" she shouted, enraged at her friends treatment.

"Raven, do what you can for Beast Boy, I'll hold off Mammoth!" Robin ordered though it was moot, as the empath immediately ran to the downed shapeshifters side the moment she saw him get hit and she did not like what she saw.

'Please be ok Beast Boy, you have to be ok.' She thought as she rushed to his side, once she got there she was that his body was covered in third degree burns and his breathing was ragged and shallow.

'He's burnt pretty badly; I don't know if I can heal him completely...no he's going to make it! He has to!' She thought fiercely as she knelt on the ground before gently placing his severely burnt face in her lap and chanting her mantra and allowing a healing white light to encompass his body.

Little did she or any of the Titans know that, that laser would awaken something in Beast Boy. Long forgotten memories of blood, death, and pain...

We never saw it coming; we were supposed to be safe, traveling down the river in our little boat, dad at the helm with my mother holding me tightly in her lap. Then we rounded the bend in the river and saw groups of men shooting at each other from either side. Dad tried to steer the boat away from the conflict, but the current of the river was just too strong. Upon noticing us, both groups opened fire on our craft. My mother, god rest her soul, used herself as a human shield to protect me from the gunfire.

"Mommy what...happened?" I remember asking.

"Garfield sweetie, I need you to do a big thing for mommy ok? I need you to take the box with the big Red Cross on it and the duffle bag next to it and I need you to turn into the biggest thing you can think of and fly away with them ok?" She said as, though he didn't know it at the time, her voice was in pain as she was dying from multiple bullet wounds to the back.

"But; what about you and daddy, mommy?" I remember asking.

"Don't worry about us Gar, we'll catch up I promise." She said her voice growing weaker with every word.

She then rolled off of him and he did as she asked and collected the items in question before turning into a condor. Before he took off he mother said one final thing to him "Gar remember this, no matter what happens your father and I will always love you and always be proud of you."

I nodded though I was confused and took off after that I remember looking back, just in time to see my families' boat explode. It was then that I let out a cry of anguish as I knew two things. One that my mother had lied to me they would in fact not be coming for me, and two I was all alone in the world now...

I slept in the jungle for the next six days surviving off of the cans of food that were in the duffle bag. Suddenly I heard a rustling in the underbrush and thinking it might be a jungle cat, scurried up into the giant tree I'd been using as a makeshift camp of sorts. But what came out of the underbrush was not a jaguar or leopard but a man. He was tall, pale, and he was wearing one of those black vest things that his daddy told him were supposed to stop bullets once, except his had a giant white skull painted on it and dirty black jeans and boots. I watched as he looked around before he walked up to my fire and the small cooking pot full of baked beans and taking a corkscrew out of his pocket, and flicked out a spork before he reached in and began to eat my food.

This mad me angry of course and so I hopped down from the tree and said "Didn't your mommy ever tell you it's not nice to eat other peoples food wit'out asking?"

This caused the man to turn around swiftly and I saw his eyes widen in shock as he stared at me. I knew why, I was completely green and had pointed ears and fangs but that still didn't make it right.

"It's also not nice to stare." I pointed out to the man before I crossed my tiny arms over my chest and glared at him.

The man just chuckled in response before he took a knee and said "You're right, sorry about that little guy but you startled me. Also, your right I shouldn't have eaten your food without asking but you're so good at hiding I thought the camp was abandoned. My names Frank, what's yours?" he asked.

"Garfield, but my parents called me Gar." I responded.

"What happened to your parents Gar, if you don't mind my asking?" Frank asked.

"They died. Some men with guns shot our boat and it..." I trailed off with a sniffle.

"I see, I'm sorry to hear that." He said pausing a moment before asking "Do you mind if I ask why you look the way you do exactly?"

I explained to him about the disease I got from the green monkey and the cure and how I could turn into animals now.

"Animals, really? Can you show me Gar? Can you turn into an animal for me?" he asked inquisitively.

I nodded shyly before turning into a mongoose which was the first animal I'd ever become. Frank looked shocked when I changed back to my human form. Then he asked more questions like what it felt like to change, was I or the animal in control, did I have animal instincts, and could I change into bigger more dangerous animals.

I answered all of his questions honestly and he seemed impressed with what I told him. I offered him to stay for lunch which he accepted and I was glad for the company. It sucked being all alone and I told him as much.

"I'll bet it does." He responded as he ate another sporkful of beans.

"Mr. Frank, can I ask a question?"

"Sure kid, go right ahead."

"What are you doing out here all by yourself? I mean, you know why I'm out here but why are you?"

Frank sighed before he put down the small hard plastic plate that had been provided for him and said "I'm hunting a- a very bad man. He is technically the one that got your parents killed in the first place as he started this war. I want to stop him before anyone else gets hurt."

"Mr. Frank" I said my tone becoming serious which probably sounded odd for someone who was only eight years old, as I looked him in the eye and said "Let me help you."

He looked into my eyes for a while before he said the last thing I thought he would.

"Ok."

A thousands of memories flashed past Beast Boy's mind after that each one faster than the last until it was just a blur of emotion and color. Raven felt something odd was going on in the changelings mind as she felt a tidal wave of emotion pass though his mind, primarily consisting of hatred, sadness, and loneliness so deep, Raven felt it cut her like a knife before it all settled down into what she could only define as acceptance.

'What's going on with you Garfield?' she thought as she worriedly stroked his grass green hair.

As if that were a signal of some kind, Beast Boys eyes suddenly shot wide open. But they were not the bright cheerful eyes she was used to seeing. The eyes of her friend were always warm, optimistic and shining with childlike glee. But these eyes...the eyes Raven stared into now were cold, lacking all semblances of warmth and kindness they previously possessed. Raven was no longer looking into the eyes Garfield "Beast Boy" Logan, the boy who now matter what she did to him, always bounced back with a funny joke and kept trying to get her to open up, She was no longer looking into the eyes of the boy she secretly had a crush on, she was now looking directly into the eyes of a predator.

"Beast Boy?" she asked, a bit of worry seeping into her monotone.

Instead of answering, he reached up and gently stroked her face with his gloved hand as a wicked grin spread across his face. Then he sat up turning to her, he spoke "I don't know what the fuck is going on, but I have a feeling you did me a favor my little Gothic Lolita, and I was taught that a man always repays his debts. So, after I take care of this little skirmish how bout I take you out to lunch?"

Raven blinked twice in response. 'What the Trigon? Did he just call me a Gothic Lolita...Wait! Did he just call me his and invite me out to lunch?!'

"Umm, can we talk about this later? Our friends are kinda in danger at the moment." Raven said nodding to the fight that was still taking place.

"Friends?" Beast Boy said confused before he looked around and noticed the fight going on. "And who the fuck are they?" He then looked down at himself "And what, in the fuck, am I wearing?"

Now Raven was getting worried. At first she assumed he was joking with her now she realized "You don't know who we are, do you?"

He shook his head in response "No, can't say I do Lolita, but hey, if we make it outta this scrap alive I sure as hell wouldn't mind getting to know you better." He finished with a wink.

Thankfully Ravens' cowl was up which allowed her to hide her blush in the shadows of her hood. Then, without warning Beast Boy stood up and calmly walked towards the fight slowly gaining momentum as he headed on a collision course with Mammoth, who was currently occupied keeping both Starfire and Cyborg pinned down by suppressive fire behind the teller counter while Gizmo and Robin dueled with their various gadgets'.

The brawn of the Hive Five never saw his end coming. Beast Boy quickly ran up behind him, jumped up his back, and wrapping his thighs around his neck, torqued his body hard to the left breaking Mammoths neck. Before his corpse could even begin its decent to the ground, Beast Boy snatched the Minigun from his limp grip and spun on his heel, aiming directly at the still occupied midget genius.

"Hey midget!" He called getting Gizmo's attention "Eat lead motherfucker!"

"Crud!" was all Gizmo could say before he was pelted by no less than sixty .22 rounds, most of which managed to hit his backpack as he tried to avoid the barrage but a few managed to strike true, hitting the pint sized inventor several times in both legs and his right arm.

"Beast Boy, what the hells' the matter with you?! We don't kill!" A kid dressed in spandex in the colors of a traffic light screeched as he stalked towards him shouted.

'Who the fuck is that clown, is he late for a fairy convention or sumthin? Wait...' the Green Changeling thought.

"And just who are you supposed to be exactly Mr. Traffic light?" He asked aiming the Minigun in direction "And by the way, you're welcome, considering I just saved your ass and all." BB drawled.

"Grass stain, you ok man?" a voice called from behind making Beast Boy glance behind himself briefly to see a giant mostly mechanical black man and what looked to be a red headed stripper with bright green eyes looking at him with concern.

Suddenly his gun was encased in a black aura and ripped out of his hands, only to settle at the feet of the Goth from earlier.

"I think that's quite enough Beast Boy." She said in her monotone, as she cautiously walked forward.

"Cyborg, put Beast Boy under arrest for murder and attempted murder and read him his rights." The Traffic light commanded.

"It's not that simple Robin, Beast Boy is suffering from Amnesia at the moment. He doesn't remember any of us." The Goth told the Traffic Light.

"Friend Beast Boy, is this true? Do you not remember me? I am your friend Starfire. Please tell me you remember our time as friends and our numerous battles against evil?" The redhead asked as tears began to fill her emerald colored eyes.

"Are you a stripper or something?" he asked her straight-faced in response, which caused Cyborg to look at him in slack-jawed amazement.

Starfire looked confused "Friend Beast Boy, what is a stripper?"

"It's-"He began, only to have his mouth covered by black energy and the Goth to say "Not. Another. Word. Understood?"

Beast Boy nodded and the energy disappeared and he then turned to the spandex traffic light behind him who was now glaring daggers at him from behind his mask.

"Of course I know who you are. You need no real introduction...you're the Bats little Choir Boy aren't you? Tell me, does your ass still hurt, or has he moved on to younger pastures?" he asked.

Raven just barely managed to cover the green Titan in a protective dome in time to shield him from his leaders' assault. Robin smashed his Bo staff against the barrier till it broke, then he turned to the empath and barked "Raven, lower the barrier now!"

Raven shook her head "Not until you calm down, and realize that Beast Boy isn't in his right mind at the moment. When he took that laser to the face-"

She then glared at her leader pointedly "-which was your fault by the way, he passed out and I felt something change in him." She responded coolly.

Robin's anger slowly left him as Raven swiftly reminded him that he was at least partly to blame for him teammates actions. Robin sighed in confusion and frustration scratching his gelled back hair in annoyance with the entire situation. Finally coming to a decision, he turned back to the demoness and said "Take him back to the Tower and watch him carefully till we get there, understood?"

The empath nodded and stepped inside the black sphere before it shrank and both of them disappeared, leaving the other Titans to sort out how they were going to explain this to the police.

A black silhouette of a raven appeared in the Tower living room, depositing a purple and black clothed changeling before taking the shape of Raven. The two stared silently at each other for a moment, before the Changeling looked around the room.

"Nice pad ya got here." He commented trying to break the ice.

"You live here too you know." Raven responded stoically.

"If you say so." He commented as he made his way towards the kitchen with Raven following closely behind.

Beast Boy started rummaging through the fridge, looking for something to eat. He came back out carrying some uncooked bacon, lettuce, tomato and condiments. "Where's the bread at Lolita?"

"Top cupboard on the left, and its Raven." She responded.

"Right, sorry about that." He said reaching for the bread only for it to be encased in black energy and float down to the counter.

"Neat trick, can you pull a rabbit out of a hat too?" He asked.

Raven smiled wanly "No, afraid not."

"Ah, such a shame; if you could pull that off, I bet you'd be a hit at children's parties." Beast Boy commented as he began cooking the bacon in a skillet.

Raven was quiet for a moment, before she decided to go out on a limb and ask "Beast Boy?"

"Garfield." He responded.

"Huh?"

Beast boy sighed, turning to her and saying "My name is Garfield. So if I have to call you Raven, then you need to call me Garfield." He told her.

Raven nodded in acceptance "Alright Garfield then, could you tell me why you killed Mammoth and attempted to kill Gizmo?"

He chuckled mirthlessly "Simple really, they were trying to kill innocent people and take what wasn't theirs, I have little tolerance for those kinds of people. I find the easiest way to deal with them and make sure they can't hurt anyone else is to simply make sure they can't anymore." He finished with a shrug.

Raven nodded, in a way, his logic made sense to her. She had long since noticed that they seemed to be trapped in a never ending cycle where masks they put away never seemed to reform like Robin always hoped, but merely became meaner and were often consumed by thoughts of vengeance against her and her friends. But that brought her to her next question "Don't you think that makes you no better than the very people you kill?"

Garfield, who had by now finished making two BLT sandwiches, placed them on plates before handing one to his hostess while shaking his head in the negative. "I don't see it like that I look at it like this. In order to save one life another must be sacrificed in the process to save a hundred ten may need to die, to save thousands hundreds may need to perish, and to save billions millions may need fall."

"I see, so you're looking at the bigger picture, by killing one person you save dozens more, quite the philosophy you have there." Raven commented as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"Thanks it helps me sleep at night and makes me feel more like I'm doing a public service than anything." He said doing his best to keep the conversation casual.

Both were then caught up in another awkward silence, and silently agreed it would be best to finish their lunch in peace.

After they had finished they both returned to the living room and sat on the half circle couch. Garfield cleared his throat preparing to say something, when the door to the living room opened to reveal a very annoyed Titan leader followed by the rest of his team.

"But Friend Cyborg, I merely wish to know what a stripper is." Starfire said as she floated her way into the living room.

"And I'm telling you Star, it's not important." The mechanical titan responded.

Starfire merely crossed her arms and pouted in response. "Fine, if you will not tell me then I will ask Friend Beast Boy!" she said flying over the couch till she was looking at him upside down, smiling at him sweetly she inquired "Friend Beast Boy, what is a stripper?"

"A stripper is someone who takes off their clothes for money." He responded bluntly, before raven could stop him.

The effect was instantaneous, as Beast Boy suddenly found the life being choked out of him by an angry green eyed alien.

"I am not a prostitute! I am a proud warrior princess of Tamaran and you would do well to remember this, friend or not, understood?!" she hissed out angrily.

"Yeah I got ya." Gar managed to choke out before he was dropped on the couch as the princess turned angrily away.

"Hey Princess, here some free advice? Gar said getting her attention "If you don't want people to mistake you for a lady of the night, stop dressing like one, and start dressing like a warrior princess."

"Friend Raven, do I truly come off as looking like an earth Prostitute?" she asked.

"I don't think it would kill you to cover up some Starfire, you know? Leave something to the imagination?" the empath suggested.

Starfire nodded then turned a harsh gaze back to the changeling "I thank you for your honesty, and I will endeavor to dress as a proper warrior in the future so as not to tarnish the reputation of my people and myself."

"No problem, glad I could help, I think." He said.

The sound of Robin clearing his throat loudly got everyone's attention. Gar simply raised an eyebrow and said "What do you want Choir Boy?"

Grinding his teeth in annoyance; Robin ground out "What exactly happened inside the bank?"

"I remembered." Garfield responded simply.

This caught everyone's attention. Starfire her anger temporarily forgotten floated closer and asked "Remembered what Friend Beast Boy?"

Sighing he said "First off, let's get some shit straight. My name is Garfield, not Beast Boy damn it!" He said shooting everyone else in the room a glare before continuing "Secondly, what I remembered or is it forgot? I'm not sure. Anyway, I recalled that I had a...less than stellar childhood."

"Oh Friend Bea-I mean, Friend Garfield!" Starfire said giving him one of her bone breaking hugs as Raven placed her hand on his arm for support.

"What exactly does this have to do with you committing murder?" Robin asked trying to keep the conversation on track.

Both the female Titans glared at their leader in response and Raven added archly "Why don't you be quiet and let him finish Choir Boy?"

Robin's mouth became a thin line, but he remained silent, which Garfield took as a sign to continue. "Well anyway, I remembered things. Things I forgot, terrible awful things."

"C'mon B, how bad could it have been?" Cy asked speaking for the first time.

"I remember planting C4 on a convoy of jeeps, then when the soldiers mobilized after I caused a big enough ruckus, I blew them all to hell...I was only eight at the time, and I mercilessly killed more than a dozen that day, for the sake, the hope, of saving even more." He said in a deadpan voice worthy of the resident empath.

"BB, man I didn't mean to-"Cyborg began to apologize only for the green teen to raise his hand to call for silence.

"It's fine. To be honest, I'm still trying to wrap my head around being teammates with you guys. We sure are an odd bunch huh?"

"You got that right, grass stain."

"Grass stain?" Beast Boy then pulled off one of his gloves revealing his hand which was covered in old scar tissue which he ignored he did get annoyed over the fact that his skin was green however. With a look of slight annoyance he closed his eyes and concentrated and the remaining titans were shocked, as slowly, his skin changed from green to a pale white, his hair became a messy bright blonde, and when he opened his eyes they were now a deep blue sapphire color.

"Ah, much better." He said he then noticed everyone staring at him wide eyed and asked "What?"

"How-how did you do that?" Raven asked.

"Sorry Rae, trade secret. Now, is there somewhere I can make a long distance phone call around here?" he asked.

"Beast Boy, as leader of this team, I order you to tell me how you did that!" Robin demanded.

Beast Boy followed Cyborg out of the living room yelling over his shoulder "Why don't you go preach your shit to Roman Catholic Priest of the JLA, because I'm not listening Choir Boy."

"Ok B, you're all set." Cy said as he finished piecing together a cellphone from some random parts he had laying around in his room.

"Thanks Tin Man, are you sure calls from this thing can't be tracked?" he asked looking at the chrome colored device dubiously.

"Positive string bean, no one would be able to trace any calls made on that phone. Heck, I doubt even the Batman himself could pull it off." Cy boasted.

"Alright then." Beast Boy then headed towards the door, only to stop and turn back to ask "Why are you all so damn trusting of me even after you saw me kill someone? For all you know, I could be calling in a hit on all of you right now." He said holding up the phone for emphasis.

"True, but then again I have a feeling that if you wanted us dead we'd all be dead already; or am I wrong?" Cyborg asked.

The blondes' icy blue eyes widening ever so slightly in surprise was all the confirmation Cyborg needed.

Nodding to himself Cy continued "Believe it or not B, you areour friend and I think a part of you remembers that on some base level, which is why we are all still breathing albeit with our pride wounded. That's why I have a feeling you would never hurt us, physically at least." Cy ended with a chuckle.

Garfield stared at the mechanical man who for the past two hours built him a cellphone from scratch and did his best to fill him in on his so called family. At last he said "Thank you for having so much faith in me Cyborg. I'll do my best to prove that, that faith isn't misplaced...What?" He asked seeing the bewildered look on the Titans face.

"Noting dude, that was just rather 'eloquent' for you is all." Cy commented framing the word with quotation marks using his fingers.

Gar just smiled slightly "Good night Cy."

Cyborg yawned before responding "Night grass stain, seeya in the morning." He said as his younger brother left his room.

As Garfield made his way down the hall towards his room, he bumped into something he was so lost in his thoughts.

"Friend Garfield, you are undamaged?" Starfire asked concerned that he had hurt himself bumping into her.

"Ah, hello Starfire and no I'm fine thank you." He responded accepting her offered hand to stand up.

"I am glad friend." The redheaded alien said smiling at the boy who had just recently called her a prostitute.

'I am gonna feel awkward till I do this so I may as well get it out of the way.' He thought sighing internally.

"Star?" he said getting her attention "Umm, look, I'm really sorry about the whole stripper comment thing."

"It is no problem Garfield." She said but he could tell she was still upset as she dropped the 'Friend' moniker from his name and she became suddenly distant with him, slightly less joyful and bright.

"Bullshit Star your still pissed at me, I can tell. Now, this is what's going to happen. You are going to wake up early tomorrow and you and I are going to whatever passes for the mall around these parts and then, then we are going to find you a wardrobe befitting of an alien warrior princess, and I am going to buy everything and not take no for an answer, ok?" He said giving her a look as if daring her to contradict him.

Starfire was quite for a moment as in truth she was quite taken in by the changeling's boldness and willingness to right a wrong. When she spoke next a small kind smile very much unlike the ones she usually wore graced her features.

"Your terms are agreeable Friend Garfield, I accept." She said with a hint of the regal diginity she possessed by very rarely displayed.

"Then it's a date. Till tomorrow my princess, may I keep your dreams bright and cheerful." He said taking the back of her hand and kissing it gently.

"Pleasant night visions to you as well Friend Garfield." She responded giving him a hug that was much gentler than normal before she disappeared into her room.

Garfield managed to make it all the way around the corner before he was stopped once again, this time by an amethyst-eyed empath.

"Hey Rae...did you need something?" he asked.

Raven was quiet for a moment before she said "That was kind of you, to do that for Starfire."

"I just felt it was the right thing to do, and don't think I've forgotten my promise to you either I still owe you a lunch date."

A look of surprise crossed her features for a moment, before being brutally crushed back into place. "You were serious?" she asked.

Garfield looked at her strangely "Yeah, why wouldn't I have been? In fact, why don't you come to the mall with me and Starfire tomorrow? I'm sure she would appreciate a woman's input more than a man's and we'll be their early before any crowds show up. It'll be perfect! What do ya say Lolita?"

A small smirk appeared on Ravens face. She was impressed by the fact that Beast Boy of all people managed to give her a compelling argument to go to the mall of all places. Such displays from him were rare.

'But then again, today was full of surprises. Plus, I wouldn't mind learning more about this Beast Boy. ' She reasoned.

"Alright, I'll go but on two conditions." She responded holding up two fingers for emphasis.

"Name them."

"One, you pay for anything I ask you to pay for same as Starfire, and two no calling me Lolita in public." She said 'Once we're alone however...' her emotion Lust or was it Love murmured in the back of her mind.

"Done and done babe." Garfield said with a smirk, prompting the empath to roll her eyes and turn throwing a "Goodnight." over her shoulder.

"Rea?" he called making her turn.

"Wha-" she never finished as she was suddenly shocked as Garfield planted a firm but chaste kiss on her lips whispering "Good night" Before jetting down the hall and into his room.

Raven just stood there in shock in the hallway as her mind processed this one simple fact.

'Beast Boy...Kissed me...On the lips.' She thought over and over.

"Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh! He kissed us he kissed us!" Happy was screaming from inside Nevermore as she did cartwheels all across her meadow.

"It would seem that this new Garfield is not afraid of showing his affection." Knowledge surmised with a happy tone in her voice.

"It would be wise to figure out just what he feels for us, for all we know, that was meant to be purely platonic." Wisdom advised.

"It's too bad he didn't try going for more than just a kiss." Lust said a sultry pout in her voice.

"True but it took guts for him to kiss us at all! Go BB Go!" Brave hollered.

"He couldn't have done something with his tongue? Is that too much to ask?" Anger replied hotly.

'Enough!' Raven mentally yelled at her emotions before she made towards her room intending to enter Nevermore via her mirror as she needed her rest if she was going to the mall tomorrow, early or no.

While Raven was having an internal debate, Garfield sat on bottom bunk of his bunk bed, tossing the cellphone Cyborg made him from hand to hand absentmindedly as his thoughts raced rampantly.

'What if they are mad? What if they don't want me back? What if they moved on and forgot all about me?' he thought before he took a deep breath to calm and collect his nerves.

"There really is only one way to find out." He muttered to himself as he dialed a number he knew by heart.

He waited with baited breath as the phone rang once, and the twice, before being answered on the third ring by a gruff sounding man on the other end "Hello?"

"Hello, Uncle Frank? It's me Garfield."

"..." There was only silence on the other end of the line.

It went on so long that Beast Boy thought the call had dropped he was about to ask if Frank was still there when his voice came back through the phone so loud, he needed to hold it at arm's length just to keep from going deaf.

"WHERE IN THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN BOY?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED THAT DAMN IDIOT AND I HAVE BEEN ABOUT YOU?! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD AND NOW YOU CALL OUTTA THE BLUE LIKE-"

"Uncle Frank, Uncle Frank...Frank, calm the fuck down!" Garfield eventually yelled into the phone.

After he received nothing more than the sound of heavy breathing on the other end of the line Garfield decided to continue "Look, I have no clue what happened but I recently 'woke up' in the middle of a bank heist in a place called Jump City in California. Apparently I'm now a part of a superhero team called the 'Teen Titans' or sum such nonsense. What's more I have no memory of my so called 'friends' or anything else before our last job together but what I really need right now are my things. I'd feel a lot better with a fully loaded pistol on my hip than just my fists."

Again the line was silent for a moment before Frank spoke again "You don't remember anything? Then where are you right now?"

"I'm still in the Titan Tower in Jump City...What? They were very persistent!" Gar argued feeling his uncle's disapproval from over the line.

"Do you trust them?" He finally asked.

"Most of them, there's just one that rubs me the wrong way, Robin the 'Team Leader' and the Batman's former choir boy."

Frank chuckled on the other end of the line before becoming pensive. "As long as you have numbers on your side, you should be fine for a while. Just sit tight in Jump till the idiot and I arrive with your gear ok?" Frank told him.

Garfield suddenly became alarmed "What, you're coming here personally? Isn't that kinda, I dunno, stupid! I mean your both wanted by the feds for murder and you'll be walking into a building full of super powered teenagers!"

"Eh, we've beat worse odds besides, there you're friends right? So they won't attack us if you ask."

"Yeah, I hope so anyway. No promises about the Choir Boy though."

"We can handle him easily enough; it's the other three that have me concerned."

"I'll handle it, don't worry." Gar promised.

"Alright then, get some sleep kid you sound beat." Frank advised.

"I am tired, plus I'm taking both Raven and Starfire to the mall early tomorrow."

Franks tone suddenly became fleck with humor. "Raven and Starfire; they wouldn't happen to be the two female members on the Teen Titans would they?" he asked.

"They would be, what of it?" Gar asked becoming defensive.

Gar heard chuckling from the other end of the line "Not even back from the grave for twenty-four hours and already on the prowl huh?"

"Good bye Uncle Frank." Garfield said sourly.

"Just remember to wear protection kiddo; I don't want to become a grandpa anytime soon."

"GOODBY FRANK!" Gar yelled into the phone before hanging it up and tossing it onto his desk.

Frank Castle couldn't help but chuckle as he heard the line go dead on the other end of his cellphone call. Just moments after the call ended the door to the three bedroom condo he was renting in the Bahamas was kicked open and a man clad in a crimson outfit, numerous guns and two katana strapped across his back walked through the door, his face covered by a red hood with white eye holes.

"I'm a little pistol short and stout, here is my grip and...When Deadpool gets all pissed off, here people shout, as he blows their damn brains out!"

"Wade, I've got good news." Frank said getting the madman's attention.

"You bought chimichangas for lunch?"

Frank sighed in annoyance. "No even better than Mexican food.

"What, what could be better than Chimichangas?!" ("Burritos?")

"I got a call from Garfield." Frank responded.

"Is she that one hooker who tied you to a bed and almost raped you with a-"(I didn't even know you could do that with vegetables.)

"NO!" Frank yelled before adding "and we promised never to speak of that again!"

"Hey man, it's not your fault you almost took a cucumber up the ass." The Merc with a Mouth said comfortingly.

"I know, that cause it was your fault you dumbass!"

"Well excuse me for thinking you could use some loosening up partner." Deadpool drawled.

"Anyway, we are getting off topic. The person I was talking about was Garfield you know, Red Eye?"

Deadpool let out a gasp of recognition "Jr? You got a call from Little Deadpool Jr? Well why didn't you say so in the first place partner?"

Franks response was to facepalm and say "Wade, just get ready. We're getting on the next available flight to California, and Gar wants us to bring him his things."

"What's our destination compadre?" Wade asked clearing out all the drawers as well as a china cabinet into his suitcase.

"Jump City, California."

Chapter End


	2. Chapter 2

Garfield was woken up from a dead sleep by someone rapidly banging on his door. Grumbling incoherently, he glanced over at his digital clock and noted it was six in the morning. Making his way over to his door in a zombie-like state, Garfield wrenched open his door and yelled "WHAT?!"

...Only to find the face of a rather shocked and slightly hurt Tamaranean staring back at him. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he said in as a polite a tone as he could manage "Can I help you Starfire?"

She stared at him a moment longer before saying in a slightly subdued voice "You told me to be up bright and early to go to the mall of shopping. Is it not bright and early? Did I do something wrong Friend Garfield?"

'Fuck me, and fuck my newly developed conscience.' He thought as he looked at the princess who looked like someone had just kicked her puppy or in her case mutant silk worm.

Sighing he stood aside and said "Why don't you come in Star?"

The alien girl brightened and took him up on his invitation, floating above his piles of clean laundry that he hadn't bothered to put into his drawers. Looking around at the state of his room he said sheepishly "Sorry about the mess. I guess I should clean this place up some huh? Oh, and feel free to have a seat on the bottom bunk if you like." He offered upon seeing her just floating in the middle of his room awkwardly.

Starfire graciously took a seat, while Garfield took out a swivel chair and sat on it backwards. The two Titans just stared at each other silently for a few minutes, neither knowing how to break the awkward tension that had settled between them.

Finally having enough of the silence Garfield said "Look Star I'm sorry about yelling at you ok? It's just that I am not a morning person in case you haven't noticed as I don't usually get up till ten most days, and then you come banging on my door at six in the morning? I assumed that someone was hurt so honestly I was a bit...edgy."

Starfire accepted his apology and explanation with a nod before giving one of her own "I understand Friend Garfield and I am sorry for making you needlessly worry over our friends. Never fear Friend, for all is well. It appears that I have simply once again misunderstood another earthling saying and awoken you from your rest. For that too I am sorry."

"Don't worry about it Star, but for the record, the mall doesn't open till ten in the morning anyway, so you kinda got up early for no good reason." He explained.

This caused the Tamaranean to frown slightly. "I was unaware of this, thank you friend for informing me. But what shall we do now that we are both up and have time to be killing?" She asked.

Garfield scratched the back of his head "Well we could always go back to sleep? I mean I do have bed so you can nap in here...if you want to that is." He finished quickly not wanting her to think he was flirting with her; because he wasn't, intentionally anyway.

'I'm nothing like the playboy Frank thinks I am, and I'm gonna prove it! I can be a perfect gentleman!' Garfield swore to himself internally.

He was brought out of his internal monologue when he heard Starfire giggle. Raising an eyebrow he asked "What?"

With a bit of mirth still in her bright green eyes she answered "Friend Garfield, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. On Tamaran, close friends would often share their bedding for warmth and on other times intimacy as well. Something I have learned over time is that Tamaraneans are much more open with and accepting of their feelings than people on earth. So if you wish to share a bed with me you may. Besides, do you honestly think you could get me to do something I do not wish to do?" she asked with a hint of challenge in her tone.

Garfield blinked in surprise for a few moments, processing all he had been told. When he finally spoke his was with a tone of seriousness and maturity she had only seen him display once before, during his command of the Titans in Paris when they had taken on the Brotherhood of Evil.

Garfield scooted his chair closer to where she sat on the bed up until he was almost invading her personal space and he said "Star, I would never ever force you to do anything you didn't feel comfortable with, and not just because I know you'd kick my ass if I tried, but because I respect you too much as a person to try in the first place."

This caused the princess to smile slightly, and apparently this had been the right thing to say as she once again gave him a gentle hug and said "I am well aware that you are much too kind to do anything untoward to me Friend. This new you, this more warrior-like you, it is the real full you yes? The true reason you hide behind the false smiles and not funny jokes?" she asked.

Garfield's eyes blue eyes widened in shock "What the hell do you know about that?" he said in a dangerous whisper.

"As I said, Tameraneans are much more in touch with their emotions, so it is easy to tell when someone is hiding theirs. Please Friend, I wish to help. I have always wished to help if you would just let me in." she asked.

Garfield was silent for a long moment, as if trying to gauge the sincerity of his friends' words. When he finally spoke it was in a heavily guarded tone. "I'll tell that I remembered my parents dying in a boating accident, and I vaguely remember bits and pieces after that. But if you want more you're going to have to wait a bit, cause I don't feel like talking about it. Not here, not now, maybe later on with Rae at the mall, ok?" he half promised.

"You wish to include Friend Raven as well?"

Garfield nodded "Might as well, in truth I'd like to tell you Rae and Cyborg but since it's just the three of us going to the mall he can wait."

Starfire was struggled with a something internally for a moment before asking "Why do you suddenly not trust Friend Robin?"

Gar blinked in surprise at the suddenness of the question, but answered none the less "I don't trust him for several reasons, but the main ones are these. One, he expects us to trust him when we've never seen his face and we don't even know his name. Two, I know his type. He's the kinda guy who thinks that as long as he stands on the moral high ground he can do no wrong and that anyone who doesn't conform to his ideas of right and wrong is the enemy. He sees the world in black and white in other words. And Three, he is just a wannabe hero who thinks that if you put people in jail enough times they'll change."

Gar stopped for a moment and gave Starfire an odd faraway look before asking "Star, do you know what the human definition of insanity is?"

When the alien princess shook her head he elaborated. "Insanity by human definition is doing the exact same thing over and over again and expecting a different result to take place. That is the kind of heroes you and Robin and the rest are, as you throw the criminals in jail again and again expecting them to change and become better people, but in all honesty that's just crazy talk. The only thing you can do to a rabid dog is put it down, and the only way to break a cycle of insanity is to do something outside the norm."

Garfield then gave her a slightly twisted smile "I rather like my method." He said forming his hand into the mock shape of a gun, before putting it to his head and twitching his thumb. "I find it very effective."

"I'll bet." a dry monotone voice from his doorway said.

Garfield glanced over to see Raven standing just inside of his room, a cup of warm herbal tea in her hands.

"Hey Rae didn't see you there...umm how much did you hear?" Garfield asked.

"I heard your entire tirade about Robin and your philosophy on insanity and the current trend of superheroism." Raven took a sip of her tea before continuing "As much as I hate to admit it you are for the most part correct about Robin. He is sadly paranoid to the extreme likely due to his long exposure to Batman, and he believes that he is protecting us by not showing his face or telling us his name. As for moral high ground can't argue with you there either though I won't say exactly why, I will say that the Batclan does not kill, no matter what, which is where his black and white view comes from for the most part. I personally think its ridicules. I mean, what about the soldiers who fight and kill in war to protect their homes? They kill, so then they, by Robin's, Batman's, and many heroes' logic would be considered evil. But they need to realize they world is not black and white." Raven said with a huff.

"It's about a million different shades of grey." Garfield finished.

"Exactly, just take me for example. I was supposed to basically be the biblical antichrist, yet I use my demonically given powers to fight for good. Hell, I banished my father and I stopped the end of the world; if that doesn't count as 'grey' I don't know what does." The empath said with a small smile.

"Amen to that sister!" Gar said with a toothy grin.

Starfire suddenly asked "Friends, what time is it?"

It was Raven who answered "It's almost 9:30 Star."

At this, the alien princess perked up considerably "Then the mall of shopping will be opening soon yes?"

Garfield nodded. "Yep, it should be open by the time we get there if we leave now."

"Then let us make with the haste Friends!" Starfire said before grabbing each of her friends' arms and dragging them out of the room.

The three super heroes did indeed make it to the mall just as it was opening as Garfield had predicted. It was also mostly empty as he had also told Raven it probably would be much to her secret delight. The first thing the trio did was head into various stores and help Starfire pick out a new wardrobe. Garfield took the two ladies to the one place he knew would have all the clothes they would need to reinvent themselves: Urban Outfitters.

Garfield led the way into the store, and Starfire was noticeably surprised by his sudden take charge attitude. The male Titan went to the closest clothing rack and after glancing at Starfire for a moment as if sizing her up, he started pulling clothes off the racks and placing them in piles according to what they were.

"I never knew you enjoyed shopping Friend Garfield, or that you had such fine taste in clothes." She said as she picked up a black sequined top and held it to her frame to see how it would look.

"I'm not, but I've had to go undercover a time or two so I know how to blend in if I know how I want to look. In your case, we want a 'badass Xenon Warrior Princess' look. Something that says 'I'm sexy I know it, and I can still kick your ass.' There, that should do it." He said putting the last of the outfits on the pile.

Most of the outfits Raven noted were colored purple, red, or black, colors that would naturally accent and highlight the Tamaraneans' beauty.

While Starfire took the huge pile of clothes into the dressing room to begin trying them on he turned to her and said "Ok, looks like your next Rae."

"Huh?" she said dumbly.

Garfield just smiled at her "What, you didn't think Star was the only one I was gonna buy clothes for today did you?" he asked rhetorically as he began perusing the clothing racks again.

"But were superheroes what's the point?" she argued.

Garfield just laughed. "Exactly Rae, we're superheroes so what's the damn point of being in costume all the time if everyone already knows who we are on sight? Seems kinda redundant if you ask me, so why not go around and save the day in normal clothes? I mean undercover cops do it all the time right? Why not us?" he retorted as he continued to sort through the clothes.

"Holy shit."

"What is something wrong? Garfield asked, turning around and finding the empath staring at him in shock he said "What is it Rae, your scaring me here!"

"You just made sense...if I hadn't already stopped it; I would've considered it a sign of the end times." She replied in her still shocked monotone.

Garfield in turn gave her a sour look "Ha hah very funny Rae." He said before he went back to picking out clothes.

One outfit, a thin black dress made her quirk an eyebrow and say "While I'm all for going plain clothes, I don't think I'd be comfortable flying around in a dress where people could look up it."

Looking at the item in question Gar said "This? This is for special occasions Rae."

Now the demoness' curiosity was peaked "What would I need that for so soon?" she asked.

Garfield suddenly became nervous and she could feel fear as well as anxiety coming off of him in droves.

"Garfield?" she asked inquisitively.

The changeling shuffled his feet nervously, looking at the ground while he asked "Rae, would you be willing to go out with me someplace nice sometime soon, and possibly wear this dress?"

Garfield could bring himself to look up as he heard Raven's footsteps draw closer, he didn't know what she was going to do to him and he was afraid that if he looked up he would see a four-eyed crimson cloaked devil stalking towards him.

'What's she gonna do? Slap me probably.' He rationalized.

As her footsteps stopped in front of him he was surprised to find her hand gently lifting his face to meet hers. Her amethyst eyes were full of some kind of emotion, but he wasn't sure what it was. Surprise? Guilt? Shock? Maybe all three? He didn't know for sure, but he did know that he wasn't expecting what happened next.

"Garfield, are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yes?" he said unsure of where this was headed.

His shyness only caused Raven to smile ever so slightly before she said "Then we'll need to buy that dress now won't we?"

It took him a moment to piece together what she had meant, but when he did Garfield couldn't help but grin and ask "Do you mean it? I mean, I don't want to pressure you into anything and-"He was silenced by Raven putting her finger to his lips and saying "Yes I'm sure. Besides, this new more confident you...intrigues me. I can't help but want to know more about you and I sense the same feeling from Starfire and Cyborg. You're a real enigma Garfield Logan." She finished with a bit of humor lacing her monotone.

"The names Logan; Garfield Logan." He said imitating his best British accent.

"Whatever you say, double-oh-seven." Raven responded with an eyeroll before she levitated the outfits he'd chosen for her and headed towards another dressing room.

After he was sure she had gone, Garfield did a little victory dance. 'Oh yeah, Bonds' got nothing on me baby!' he thought happily.

Robin stomped through the Tower in a foul mood. The insinuations Beast Boy made yesterday still ringing in his head. His friend was usually very laid back and agreeable about most things except when it came to the consumption of meat. Now, since his accident he was bold and cocky, daring to mock his leader and insinuate...

'Don't let it get to you Dick.' Robin told himself as he made his way into the living room, hoping to find Starfire and the others but instead he merely found Cyborg playing Gamestation alone.

"Cyborg, where are the others?" Robin asked.

Cy paused his game and said cynically "Good morning to you too dude, as for the others; Grass Stain took Rae and Star to the mall. They could be gone all day for all I know." He finished before turning back to his game.

Robin meanwhile stood there in shock as his mind raced with thoughts.

'Raven and Starfire went to the mall with a known killer? Someone who should by all rights be behind bars at this very moment. Why? Don't they understand that he's dangerous, that he could possibly be unhinged from mental trauma and even be desensitized to violence and have no problem killing?'

A small part of robin's conscience told him that he too had seen people die and he himself wasn't a killer that maybe he was blowing thing out of proportion again, but he ignored it. The lives of his teammates were in danger, and obviously he was the only one who realized it. With these thoughts in mind Robin left the living room to do the only thing he could...

Frank Castle was annoyed. Why you ask? Well, he had just spent the last six hours on an airplane with his business partner Wade Wilson which for any normal person is enough to drive them to suicide or murder.

'All I need to do is take my thumb, and crush his windpipe that'll shut him up.' Fran reasoned as he watched his partner yammer on about some old friend of his called Logan or something.

"And then, Logan cut off my hand the jerk! I mean sure, I was trying to kill him but still! Doesn't he know how much that, that stings?!" Deadpool ranted oblivious to his counterparts mounting annoyance.

Suddenly Frank got an idea.

"Hey Wade how about we play a game?" he asked slyly.

"A game oh, oh, what kind of game?! Pin the sword in the drug lord, Russian roulette, bobbing for pipe bombs?!" he asked excitedly. (I'm really, really bad at Russian Roulette though...for some reason I always end up getting shot; Every single time!)

"Nope, this is a very special game. Here put this on." Frank said handing him an electric dog collar.

Once the device was around the Merc with a Mouth's neck, Frank continued "Ok, now this game is called the quiet game. What you have to do is say nothing for as long as possible. If you say something, you'll get a shock like this."

Frank then hit the button on the remote control and watched in sadistic glee as Deadpool spams' in his seat.

"Wow I like this game! This is even better than when we went to Taiwan for my birthday and you let me walk through that old minefield!" ("Frank is so considerate! I don't know what I'd do without him guys!")

Frank grinned maliciously which Deadpool missed and said "Yeah, that was fun wasn't it? We had to put you back together like what, eight or nine times?" he asked.

"It was eleven I remember cause the last two times those damn birds kept trying to make off with my fingers." ("Stupid rats with wings will eat anything, even me!")

"Oh yeah that's right." Frank said nodding in remembrance before he hit the button and watched as Deadpool squirmed in agony again.

"You talked by the way." He said afterwards.

"Don't worry buddy after this you won't hear a peep outta me, no sir, not a peep!" Deadpool promised to which Castle shocked him again as he rolled his eyes.

'Well, this is one way to alleviate my boredom.' The Punisher thought as he shocked his companion again.

This went on for another half hour in which time, Wade was shocked a good fifty-six times, before the pilots voice came over the intercom announcing that they would be arriving in Jump City Airport in t-minus ten minutes and to please have their trays locked in the upright positions.

"We should get ready to move Wade." Frank said after hearing the announcement.

Deadpool being well Deadpool sniffed the air around him and asked "Hey partner, what's cooking? It smells kinda good." ("Smells like...Chimichangas.")

Frank just sighed. "It's you stupid, now c'mon take that thing off and get ready to go." He said.

As the plane began its descent, he couldn't help but think 'I hope the kids date is going ok, cause it's probably gonna end a little earlier than he thought.'

Meanwhile the other three Titans were almost done clothes shopping, and so far the girls had liked all the outfits that had been picked out for them and unbeknownst to their male companion, they enjoyed modeling his choices off for him to see.

"Hey Starfire come here for a minute." Raven said conspiratorially as the two girls were in the one area of the store Garfield refused to tread: The lingerie and underwear area.

"What is it friend Raven?" the princess inquired.

Raven let a small smirk cross her face "Seeing as we're modeling for Garfield, don't you think we should model everything?" she said holding up a lacy almost see-thru black lacy piece of silk lingerie.

"Oh yes, I do believe Friend Garfield should be consulted about all purchases today." She said, gaining a smile matching the demonesses'.

Once they were ready for their little prank, Raven called him over to the changing room. "Garfield, we need your opinion on something please."

They heard their target approach and ask "What is it Rae?" That was when she opened the door to her changing room and reveled in the shocked look, as well as the blush that threatened to consume his face when she did.

"Well, what do you think Garfield? Should I get this?" She asked her voice sultry as she stood there in nothing but a black silk camisole and black lace shorts, both of which perfectly hugged her figure and covered everything up while leaving little if nothing to the former child soldier's imagination.

"You-you look...holy shit Rae..." he managed to get out unable to take his eyes of the empath's figure.

Garfield's gaze was stolen from the empath when he heard Starfire ask "And I Friend Garfield? How do I look?"

He turned towards Starfire's voice, and nearly had a heart attack at what he saw. The alien princess too was dressed in lingerie, but while Raven's was conservative, Starfire's own was provocative. She was wearing a two piece outfit the top of which was simply a red silk bow tied around her bust. It was as if she was wrapped as a present and was presenting herself to him, just waiting to be unwrapped. She wore a pair of lacy red underwear that was connected to some stockings.

Apparently, seeing Starfire right after Raven was just too much for him, as his face became tomato crimson and blood leaked from his nose before he passed out.

"Friend Garfield!" Starfire shouted alarmed catching him before he hit the ground "Speak to me friend! Raven is Garfield..."

"He's fine Star, we just overloaded his brain is all." The empath said with a chuckle.

"Does that mean he liked the clothing?" She asked as she gently deposited him on a nearby bench.

"Oh yes, I believe it's safe to say he liked it a lot." Raven replied as she wiped away the blood from the changelings' nose with the hem of her blue cloak.

"Then we shall be buying them yes?" the princess asked.

"Oh yeah." The demoness replied.

After they managed to wake Garfield so he could pay for all their purchases, the trio of superheroes was still in the mall, however now they were in a book store which smelt strongly of paper and incense, and gave off an air of peace. In other words it was Raven's kind of place. After spending several hours shopping for clothes, the other two were more than happy to spend some time in a book store if it made their friend happy. And judging from the content look Garfield could see on her face Raven was happy indeed.

"Find anything good Rae?" he asked coming over to the empath who seemed to have sequestered her off in a corner with a book.

Glancing up briefly she said "Yes, a very interesting set of books involving a hitman called John Rain trying to 'get out of the life'. Apparently the series is written by a former CIA operative turned author, Barry Eisler." She said in her monotone.

"Is there something you wanna ask me Rae, or did you really just suddenly become interested in killer for hire novels?" Gar asked.

Raven gently closed the book she was reading before looking her friend in the face and said "That's part of it; but honestly I'm trying to understand why you do what you do."

"And what would that be Raven?" he asked cautiously.

Raven gave her friend a hard look "It's obvious from the way you took out Mammoth and Gizmo that you've had some kind of military training, the way you broke Mammoth's neck...it was far to clean and prescise to be anything other than that."

Garfield could see Raven's eyes suddenly became inquisitive and slightly fearful as she asked "What do you plan to do now that you have your memories back?"

Realizing then what she was really asking he moved forward and put his hands on Raven's shoulders, causing her to look away. But Garfield was having none of it. Using one of his hands he tilted raven's chin till she was looking him in the face, after she was he said "Rae, I'm not gonna be going anywhere anytime soon ok? I promise." He enforced this by giving her a smile and a sudden light peck on the cheek causing her to blush at the contact.

After that he let her go and she looked away, embarrassed but thankfully nothing broke. The empath then glared at the changeling and said "You need to stop doing that Garfield, it's dangerous."

"But you like it, don't you Rae?" He asked slyly.

Raven looked away, unable to meet his gaze as she responded "It doesn't matter how much I enjoy it. I could never forgive myself if I hurt you or anyone else." She said her monotone now heavy with sadness.

She then heard Garfield sigh and say "You know something Rae? That's funny coming from a girl who thought it would be fun to make me pass out just a few minutes ago. And another thing; have you ever thought of, just maybe, for once in your life just saying "Fuck it." And doing something solely for your benefit and not giving a damn about everyone else?"

She was going to retort, but her words died as she looked up and saw him walking away.

Starfire was enjoying looking at a book full of various places and animals on earth, when Garfield came up to her from behind and simply said "Hey."

"Hello Friend-Friend Garfield is something wrong? You look the upset." Starfire said upon seeing the troubled look on her friends face.

Garfield scratched his head in frustration, sighing once again before he said "I'm a bit confused with Rea at the moment.

"Did you two do the fighting again?" She asked.

"Yes, I mean no, maybe? I'm not sure honestly. I'm just tired of the fact that she refuses to feel anything even though her dad is gone. For the record, I'm not mad at Raven; I'm mad at the people who made her the way she is, her father for giving her powers, those damn monks for teaching her that feeling nothing at all is a good thing. It's not fair to her, she didn't ask for any of it and she deserves some semblance of a normal life." He complained.

Starfire nodded in agreement "I understand how you feel friend, I too wish for nothing more than Friend Raven's happiness. Yet we cannot expect her to change the way she has been all her life overnight can we?"

"I did, from what Cyborg told me last night before I went to bed." He argued back.

Starfire frowned at her friends' argument. "That is different and you know it Friend, you had the amnesia, Raven does not." She chastised.

Garfield looked down and nodded "I know, I just think she's being too hard on herself sometimes."

The redheaded princess patted the changelings arm reassuringly, offering him a smile saying "Worry not Friend Garfield, all things will work themselves out in time."

Gar just chuckled and said "You know Star, for an alien who doesn't get most earth wordplay, your pretty damn wise you know that?"

"Why of course, did you think I was just a beautiful face?" she asked rhetorically while raising an eyebrow.

Raising his hands in mock surrender Gar responded "Oh no, I know for a fact that going along with that pretty face is one equally killer body, a cleaver mind, a compassionate and protective personality, and a mean ass right hook. Not to mention the starbolts."

Starfire nodded sagely "Good, than you are already wiser than most Friend Garfield."

"Thanks I try." He said, giving her a winning smile.

"That is what I like about you Friend Garfield; you never quit trying, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against you, you persevere. It is quite admirable." She said her eyes narrowing seductively as she smiled at him.

Suddenly Garfield felt awkward as if he were about to break some unwritten rule or cross some uncross- able line. He knew what she wanted; he could smell the pheromones coming off of her, which gave her a scent of wildflowers to his keen and sensitive nose. And although he didn't like Robin and enjoyed making fun of him yesterday, that was for fun. This, this on the other hand was serious.

Which is why; when the princess leaned down, intent on crossing that line herself he put a finger to her lips and asked in a husky whisper "What about Choir Boy?"

This caused Starfire to straighten up, and adopt an angry look on her face. Thinking she was mad at him, Gar asked "Did I say something wrong?"

Starfire shook her head in response "No Friend, I am not the upset with you, but with Robin. After Tokyo, I became his girl who was more than a friend or so I thought. Yet, within that time he has never asked me out on the date, nor has he even bothered to take off his mask or tell me his real name which Friend Raven already knows! Then, when you did the killing of Mammoth in order to save both Friend Cyborg and myself, instead of congratulating for saving your teammates as he should've done, he wished to throw you into the jail with all the rest of our foes." By now the princess's eyes were glowing emerald green and her body quivered with rage.

Garfield put his hand on her shoulders and drew her into a hug. Stroking her long crimson hair he assured her everything thing was fine, and there was no reason to be so upset. From where her head lay upon his shoulder she said "But everything is not the fine. You are changed, Robin is turning his back upon you, Friend Cyborg is confused as is Friend Raven though neither will admit it and I? I am beginning to like this new you Beast Boy." She said calling him by his old moniker.

"That sentiment goes double for me." Raven's monotone voice said as the empath herself emerged from the shadows.

Garfield instantly went into 'oh shit mode'. Breaking off the embrace he asked "Raven, how long were you standing over there?"

"Since the beginning, I followed you-"She said before she threw her arms around Garfield and said "Thank you for caring about me Gar, but you shouldn't worry so much."

"You're my friend, how can I not worry about you?" He asked while returning the embrace.

"I never said don't worry, just don't worry to the point, you become frustrated, ok?" She said giving him a look.

"Right, I think I get ya...so do you two just want to head or are we ok to continue?" he asked after a pause.

"I'm ok to continue." The empath said with a nod before she turned to the changeling and said "But about what I brought up earlier?"

Garfield's guard was instantly raised again as he asked "What about it?" his face becoming a mask of neutrality.

"I just want you know that, that worry you feel for me? I worry about you too. So if you ever want to talk about what you went through, my doors always open alright?"

"And I too, am here if you wish to do the talking Friend Garfield." Starfire offered once again.

Garfield smiled at his two female teammates "Thanks girls I'll keep it in mind count on it. Now, if you've both found what you're looking for let's take it up front and pay for it and then I'll take you somewhere you need to check out."

Their purchases paid for, and after a quick lunch and Raven sending all their bags back to the Tower via teleportation; Garfield then took them to the last place they probably intended on ever going into...a shooting range just a block or two away from the mall.

Once they were inside Garfield went up to the counter and quickly came back with two .22 caliber pistols and a .45, several boxes of ammo for each gun, and three sets of ear muffs before saying "Ok now I know this may be an odd question, but have either of you ever fired a gun before?"

"Garfield, I'm a telepath and Starfire is an alien princess with super strength, and the ability to fire lasers from both her palms and eyes. So I think I speak for both of us when I say no, no we haven't and for that matter why would we even need to?" Raven asked.

The formerly green changeling's rebuttal came in the form of four words "The Puppet King Incident."

It was then that Raven understood.

'So, your idea of a date is teaching us how to protect ourselves just in case, huh Garfield?' she thought amusedly as she silently took her ear muffs and made her way towards the shooting area without further comment.

As it turned out, the changeling was a fairly good teacher when it came to the competent use of firearms, and though Raven had her reservations at first about using a gun, something designed solely to kill and with her pacifist society upbringing it was hard for her to pull the trigger...at first.

"Ok Raven, let's try a little something." Garfield said as he called in her target which she had been unable to bring herself to shoot for the past five minutes.

Raven huffed in annoyance. "I don't know why you bother, I'm not going to be able to do this Garfield, I don't have that nerve to pull the trigger and it's just not in me."

"We'll see about that." He said in a way that meant he had a plan. "Wait right there I'll be right back."

While Garfield left to put his plan into action, Raven watched Starfire shoot at her paper target...and nearly reduce it to shreds.

While Raven couldn't even bring herself to pull the trigger, Starfire on the other hand took to shooting like a fish took to water. It was almost like she was born with a gun in her hand. Her style of shooting was wild and erratic, yet strangely accurate most of the time. It was much like her usage of starbolts when in battle, in other words quantity over quality.

'Imagine Starfire with a couple of Uzi's in her hands instead of just .22's...now that's scary.' The empath thought suppressing a shudder.

She was broken out of her thoughts when Garfield returned, and with colored markers of all things. Utterly bewildered, she could only watch as he drew something on the paper target. When he stepped back he proudly portrayed his masterpiece: A crude if recognizable depiction of her father, Trigon.

"Ok, now this is the plan Rae. You hate your dad right?" he asked rhetorically.

"More than you could ever imagine." Raven responded with a slight growl in her monotone.

This response caused Garfield to smile "Now that's what I like to hear! What I want you to do Rae, is channel your anger at daddy dearest and then..." Garfield paused for dramatic effect "Pull the trigger. Think you can do that?" he asked.

Receiving a resolute if silent nod from the empath, Garfield sent the target out. He then watched in amazement as she not only fired the gun, but shot out all four of the drawn on eyes, with one of the other six shots landing in the throat, three dead center in the chest, one right in-between the eyes, and the last one in the 'groin' causing Garfield to wince even if it was a paper target.

Raven kept pulling the trigger long after the final bullet had been spent. After a moment, Garfield came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. He was going to say something comforting, but all that was cut off when raven grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him into a searing hot kiss.

After Raven broke it off she said "That, felt really good."

"Kissing me or shooting the target?" he asked in a slight daze.

In response, Raven gave a smile. Not the usual small but sweet smiles she sometimes gave, but a wicked curving grin that rightly belonged on the face of a demoness' as she said "Can't it be both?"

Garfield adopted his own smirk in response "I don't see why not."

"That was a most glorious display of the shooting Friend Raven! And it is good to see you so open to your emotions for a change." Starfire praised, floating off the ground slightly.

"Thanks Starfire, I'm actually surprised nothing exploded to be honest." The empath said looking around the room to note the fact that, nothing had been damaged by her powers.

Garfield too looked around the room "Huh, well would you look at that? So, do you want to keep shooting?" he asked.

"Does Trigon want to take over this dimension?" She asked rhetorically.

Bruce Wayne, known in Gotham City as a millionaire playboy by many, but better known as Batman by its criminal underworld, had just finished a phone call with someone he did not expect to call and ask for his advice. Worse yet, he had no clear cut answer for him. Not in this case.

"A penny for your thoughts, Master Bruce?" Came the English accent of his butler, friend, and longtime confidant Alfred Pennyworth as he approached carry a silver tray laden with an antique china tea set.

"Alfred, Richard just called." The Wayne Scion said without turning around from his seat at his supercomputer in the batcave.

This surprised the Englishman "Master Richard, what did he want Master Bruce?"

Bruce sighed before he turned and accepted the offered teacup. He took a small sip of the Earl Grey before continuing "One of his Teammates killed someone yesterday, he was asking me for advice on how to handle it."

This caused the butler's eyes to widen in shock! "Oh dear, who did the deed? Was it the princess, or Mrs. Roth?" He asked naming the two most likely suspects.

Only for the Dark Knight to shake his head in response "No, it was the Changeling, Beast Boy who did it, but the reasons why and how are why I can't give Richard sound advice Alfred."

At this, the Caped Crusader's confidant quirked and eyebrow "Oh, and what may I ask is the how and why Master Bruce?"

"First off, Beast Boy killed to save his fellow teammates from certain death, as the Hive Five a group of usually inept if super powered criminal teenagers, had somehow got their hands on military grade weapons. Secondly, the way he killed, via a neck twist using his thighs. Something only someone extremely skilled in lethal martial arts and who had been practicing them for quite some time would be able to pull off." The Batman finished.

"But, and correct me if I'm wrong Master Bruce, isn't young Mister Garfield the youngest of the Titans at sixteen?"

Batman nodded "Yes, and that's what worries me the most. For him to be so lethal so young, he must have been trained since he was a small child."

For the third time in the last ten minutes, Garfield sneezed. Starfire, growing concerned asked "Friend Garfield, are you coming down with the cold?"

"Nah Star, I think someone somewhere must just be talking about me is all." He reasoned.

"I think that's just a superstition Garfield." Raven commented causing the changeling to shrug.

"Maybe, maybe not, all I know is I'm not getting sick. I don't get sick, ever. I haven't since I got my powers." He stated matter-of-factly.

This proclamation caused Raven to ask something she had always been curious about "How did you get your powers anyway? You know my and Starfire's origins' what about yours?"

This caused the empath to get feeling of dread, sadness, and fear from her changeling friend and she automatically regretted asking.

"The reason I got my powers' is...complicated." He said at last.

Starfire was confused now "How so Friend?"

"I-I'd rather not talk about it right now ok? It's pretty heavy shit and it would put a real damper on what has otherwise been an awesome day." He said.

As Starfire opened her mouth to retort Raven intervened saying "Of course we understand, just feel free to come talk to us about it when you're ready, right Starfire?" She finished by shooting the princess a glare that clearly said 'Don't!'

Shooting Raven a smile of gratitude he was about to ask them if they were ready to return home when the decision was made for them when Garfields' Titan Communicator went off.

Seeing it was Cyborg he answered it saying "Yo Cy, what's up?"

"Umm, Grass Stain I'm not sure how to tell you this so I'm just gonna come right out and say it ok?" the robotic teen began hesitantly.

The changeling suddenly got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach "Ok~ what's going on?"

"Two of the most wanted killers in the world, one a vigilante and the other a mercenary just showed up at the tower claiming to be your uncles' crazy right?"

"Frank and Wade are here already?! Damn that was faster than I-wait; you said they were at the Tower? Like right now at the Tower?!" he yelled becoming frantic.

Now it was Cyborgs turn to be shocked "Yeah, you mean you actually know them?"

"They raised me since I was eight! Cy, buddy I'm asking you to hold them off until I get there ok? I'll explain when I do." he said before cutting off the transmission and turning to raven and saying "Rae, we need to get to the Tower, NOW!"

Raven didn't argue, not when he was this serious.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She chanted covering the three of them in a black orb before it shrank into nonexistence...

The three remaining Titans had arrived back home to absolute anarchy. Their couch had been flipped over and was now full of both bullet holes as well as slash marks, the tv was shot literally shot, and it looked as if several explosives of varying intensity had been set off if the scorch marks and all the broken glass were any indication.

Hearing gunfire coming from the kitchen, Garfield rushed towards the source of the noise. He burst into the kitchen, and it was only his instincts that saved him as he caught a vertical downward chop from a katana that would've split his head in half if it had landed. He looked into the crimson and white mask of someone he hadn't seen in a long time, and then looked over his shoulder and saw a man with dark hair wearing a black trench coat over matching combat gear. And just on the edge of his peripheral vision, he saw two battered and bruised but still breathing Titans.

Smiling slightly to towards the saner of his two uncles' he said "Did you miss me, Uncle Frank?"

With a slight smirk playing on his lips the Punisher responded "Garfield! Damn is it good to see you boy."

Chapter End


	3. Chapter 3

Ch.3: Death's at a funeral.

Garfield stood in the kitchen doorway still holding a caught katana blade between his palms. After a moment he looked up at his less than sane uncle and asked questionably "You gonna put that away so I can give you a hug, or am I gonna have to take it from you?"

Although he couldn't see it Wade smiled from underneath his mask before he sheathed his blade on his back and said "Come here and give your favorite uncle a hug Jr."

Garfield merely rolled his eyes and said "I don't play favorites when it comes to family, you know that. But still it's good to see you, you crazy bastard." He said as he embraced the crimson masked assassin.

"Good to see you too kid...Got anything to eat? Kicking your friends' asses works up an appetite." He said casually.

Frank sighed before saying "Wade, I think we should clear the air about why we're here before we go ordering pizza." He said before he embraced his surrogate nephew.

"How you been kiddo?" He asked after letting him go.

In response Garfield scratched his now blonde head and said "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure Uncle Frank. Last thing I remember we were on that last job and then, next thing I know, I'm in the middle of busting up a fucking bank heist, playin' the saint, and acting like the JLA's big blue boy scout." He then looked back at Starfire and Raven before glancing at Cyborg before smiling and saying "But it ain't all bad, I got some kickass friends who I would fight through the nine circles of hell for and who I'm hoping would do the same for me."

Garfield then felt two hands come to rest on either of his shoulders and he looked left and right to find both Raven and Starfire on either side of him, each placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. It was the resident empath who spoke first "Do you even really have to ask that question?"

"Yes Friend Garfield, I do believe I speak for everyone when I say that if you were in danger we would come to your aid. We are more than friends we are a family." The princess said while warmly smiling at her friend.

Garfield then winced slightly as Cyborg punched him in his shoulder and said "Couldn't have said it better myself Star. Like it or not you're stuck with as grass stain and you're not getting rid of us that easily."

"Speak for yourselves."

All eyes turned to the leader of the Titans. Three of the four titans looked at him in shock, but the fourth, formerly known as Beast Boy merely raised an eyebrow amused and asked "Something you wanna say Choir Boy?"

This must have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back as Robin lashed out with a swift right hook towards the changeling...only for him to calmly catch it in his palm and giving his 'leader' a bland bored look he asked again "Something you wanna say, Choir Boy?"

This merely caused Robin to yell out in frustration and swing a kick at the child soldier, one that he deftly avoided by spinning to the side and as he still had a firm grip on the boy blunder's arm, that was wrenched behind his back and then forcibly pulled out of its socket when Garfield delivered a swift kick to his back before he slammed the former acrobat into the counter and painfully twisted his arm behind his back; sighing in annoyance before saying for the third time "Do you got sumthin you wanna get off your chest you motherfucking spandex wearing acrobat, or are you just gonna try and fail to hit me again Choir Boy?"

"You." Robin said in response.

"Yeah, what about me batbait?" Garfield asked holding his former leaders' injured arm tightly.

Robin grimaced but continued "You're just a monster, and animal who's only instinct is to kill! The incident with the beast and your actions at the bank made it perfectly clear to me! You need to be kept on a leash, or better yet chained to walls with a muzzle to keep that damn trap of yours shut! And what's more? You call known wanted murders uncles? I don't know what the hell kind of twisted childhood you must've had to become as fucked up as you are but it's obvious to me that your just a rabid dog that needs to be put down!"

Everyone in the room was shocked into silence...Well almost everyone. Next thing Robin knew he felt the muzzles of two guns pressed to the back of his head. He could see both of the 'known murderers' pointing the barrels of a couple of .45 colts at his head, and preparing to fire.

"That's enough you two; Choir Boy ain't worth wasting good ammo over." Garfield said looking at both his uncles with a look that said 'He ain't worth the effort.'

"You sure kid? I haven't been this pissed since that one time those take out Chimichangas gave me food poisoning." (Stuff was coming out both ends, and I didn't know whether to throw up or shit down for a while there.)

Garfield was silent for a moment, as he looked at his so-called leader, his eyes filled with pity and disgust at the Boy Blunder as he said coolly "Yeah I'm sure, he ain't worth the price of the bullets you'd be sending into his skull."

The two killers looked at each other, and then they shrugged before holstering their guns, after which Garfield pulled on the wounded birds' arm even harder eliciting a hiss of pain from his as he leaned over him and whispered dangerously "If I'm a dangerous animal, then you'd better watch what you say to me. Afterall, you never know how a dangerous animal will react if it feels threatened. Remember that."

He then let him go and stalked out of the kitchen, only stopping when Robin yelled "You're off the team Beast Boy hand in your communicator, pack up your things and get the hell out! And take your 'uncles' with you!"

This caused the blue-eyed blonde to turn around with a smirk as he said "I don't think so Bird Boy."

"You don't have a choice, I'm the leader here you'll do as I say!" Robin commanded.

"This punks gonna be sucking on the business end of my .45 if he doesn't shut the fuck up soon." Frank muttered to himself darkly causing Wade to nod and add "And mine's gonna go in the place only batman's dick has been before."

Garfield shook his head as he chuckled "No need for that you two, though I do appreciate the sentiment. You see, Robin here seems to be forgetting about the charter we signed with the city when we became the Titans. It clearly states that a majority vote must agree to dismiss any titan from this team or any other Titan team for that matter."

"What?!" Robin yelled out in anger "That is absolute- he was cut off by Raven's monotone voice saying harshly "That is absolutely correct, when we signed on to protect Jump that is exactly what the charter said. In fact, why don't you ask Cyborg? I'm sure he has a digital copy stored in his memory files somewhere, right? She asked looking at the Bionic Titan questioningly.

Cyborg just smiled "Way ahead of you Raven." He said just moments before the fax machine went off, spewing out a copy of the 'Teen Titians charter' the original of which was kept in the city hall's record department.

"Here you go Choir Boy, see for yourself. It's right there in paragraph three section A down near the end." Gar said handing the sheet to Robin who snatched it from his hand and glanced down near the end of the document.

Gritting his teeth so hard it hurt for a moment until a smirk crossed Robin's face and called out "All in favor of Beast Boy's removal from the team raise your hands."

Robin was the only one to raise his hand, much to his shock. "Starfire, Cyborg, raven? Didn't you hear me I said raise your hand if you want the green animal off our team." He said shooting the three a glare from behind his mask.

"That is just the thing Friend Robin; you are the only one who wants him gone. And I personally think it is quite shameful of you to try and get rid of him for doing nothing." The Tamaranean princess said as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her boyfriend though her thoughts have been focused more and more on a certain changeling as of late.

"Starfire he killed someone, we're hero's we don't kill! Besides, you're my girlfriend you should support me in this!" Robin said angrily.

That was the wrong thing to say as the crimson haired princess eyes flared with green fury and her hands became coated in her starbolt energy as she lifted off the ground slightly and she then hissed out in an enraged tone "Girlfriend, since when Robin? You have never asked me out on the date, never told me anything important about yourself, I do not know your name or even what your face looks like as you have never bothered to remove your mask! You call me your girlfriend but have done nothing at all to prove that you care! And now, you expect me to side with you and kick friend Garfield off the team, out of our family just because he killed someone to save both my and Friend Cyborg's lives?! You have fallen off your rocker! I will not side with you! I will not send Friend Garfield away, and as far as I'm concerned I am not your Girlfriend and I never was!" She yelled her voice shaking in anger.

She then felt someone's' hand on her arm. Looking over she saw Friend Garfield looking at her. His eyes were filled with both amazement and concern.

'Concern for me!' she realized.

"Star I-Are you ok?" he asked hesitantly.

Taking a deep breath the Tamaranean calmed herself down, landing once more on the ground she looked into his eyes and could see the concern in them. Even though he was a killer, he killed to protect he had kindness and compassion. This is why as she looked into his eyes before she leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips. Starfire's eyes crinkled in amusement as she saw his own blue eyes widen in shock at the action.

'Holy shit Star is kissing me...oh sweet-Jesus-titty-cinnamon! She's kissing me in front of both Raven and Robin...damn this feels good.' He thought as he felt the Tamaraneans feather soft lips pressed to his for a good minute, leaving him light headed before she broke the kiss and answered his question from earlier and with the faint taste of mustard on his lips .

"I do believe...I am doing fine now Friend Garfield." She said slightly out of breath.

"Well, that good to-what the hell is that noise?" He asked as he heard numerous clicks and flashes from off to the side, which revealed both Wade and Cyborg, both of whom were grinning like cat's who caught canary's.

Garfield gave them both a look that could chill blood as he said "Gimmie the camera's now."

Cyborg shook his head, that big shit-eating grin still on his face as he shook his head in response "Na-uh BB, this is class-A blackmail material. There is no way I'll-Raven what gives?!" Cyborg asks as both his and Deadpool's cameras are covered in black energy before they are crushed to the size of ping-pong balls and dropped on the floor.

Raven sent the metal titan an icy glare "Stop acting like immature children!" she chastised.

Her gaze then turned to Starfire as she said "I thought we agreed to wait till later tonight?"

In response, the alien hung her head and apologized "I am sorry Friend Raven; I was caught up in the moment as they say."

"Umm, excuse me, but what the hell are you two talking about?" a confused Garfield asked.

The two heroines looked at each other for a moment, before Starfire shrugged and said "You might as well tell him now, seeing as I let the cat out of the box."

The empath sighed before nodding and saying "Yes, I suppose your right." Before she walked up to Garfield grabbed him by his shirt, pulled him close and said "We were going to tell you tonight, after everyone else went to bed...but fuck it." She finished before she too planted a hungry kiss upon his lips.

'Holy shit!' was the thoughts of every male in the room, especially a certain changeling as he felt raven's lips upon his. When he kissed her before she never expected it. Now he could faintly taste the herbal tea she was always drinking on his lips and remembering she was an empath he put as much love and passion as he could into returning the gesture, so she would know exactly how he felt.

When he separated his lips from her's he couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at her face. She was stunned, her eyes were glazed over and her lips were still puckered outwards as she was too shocked to notice the kiss had ended.

"Damn, did I break you Rae?" Garfield asked after a moment.

That seemed to snap the empath out of her funk as she shook her head and said "I'm fine Garfield thank you."

The boy then scowled and said "Well that's good cause I'm as confused as a tranny trying to remember what bathroom to go into after the operation. Would you mind telling me in no uncertain terms what the hell is going on?"

Everyone heard a loud 'slap' and looked over to see Frank with his palm connected to his face as he muttered "I knew we shoulda covered this kinda shit." He then sighed and said pointedly "Garfield, I love you as much as the son I lost but sometimes, sometimes you're an idiot."

Garfield's eloquent response merely required him to lift a single finger only for it to be firmly placed down by Raven. "None of that Garfield, as to what's going on, well Starfire and I were discussing something at the mall."

Now Gar looked confused "When was this? I was with you the entire time."

Raven looked sheepish "You weren't with us the entire time Garfield, remember?"

Garfield scratched his head in thought "Do you mean when you and Star were planning that prank?"

Raven nodded "Yes."

Robin had had enough. Maybe it was because I called him Choir Boy too many times, maybe it was because his supposed girlfriend just broke up with him only go into the arms of someone he considered a child, maybe all those repressed memories of getting ass fucked by the batman finally came to the fore. Whatever the case, to seeing me get kissed by Raven and Starfire both finally made him lose his shit as he screeched at the top of his lungs "OK, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?! BEAST BOY IS A KILLER, HE WAS RAISED BY TWO OF THE MOST NOTORIUS KILLERS KNOWN AND, INSTEAD OF THROWING HIM AND THEM IN JAIL WHERE THEY BELONG WE'RE HAVING CASAUL CONVERSATION WITH THEM! HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR DAMN MINDS?!"

In response I merely raised an eyebrow and said "Frank?"

"On it." The saner of the two mercs replied as he pistol whipped Robin in the back of the head, rendering him unconscious.

"Thank you." I said giving him a nod.

"No problem, punk was getting on my nerves anyway."

"Anyway~ what a prank it was, I even got pictures!" Wade said excitedly waving a couple of photographs in the air.

"What the-WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GET THOES?!" Garfield yelled before he snatched the pictures out of the Merc's hands.

"The author gave em to me, duh." Deadpool responded as if it should be obvious.

"What?" Garfield asked.

"What?" Deadpool parroted.

"What did you just say?" the formerly green titan asked.

"Something about tacos, speaking of which I'm hungry, you got anything to eat?" (I would sell my left nut for some Mexican food right about now.)

Garfield sighed before looking at Frank and asking "Can you..?"

The older man nodded and, whipping out his .45, shot his fellow mercenary in the head twice.

"DUDE!" Cyborg said in complete and utter shock.

"What, he's fine." Garfield said completely unconcerned that one of his so-called 'uncles' shot the other in the head.

Raven was now shaking Garfield as she yelled "He was shot twice in the head, how is that fine!"

"Cause, I got a healing factor. Fuck that hurt Frank!" Deadpool said as he tilted his head to the side as two pieces of lead fell out of his skull, to which Castle just shrugged as if to say 'Well it's your own damn fault'.

"So you are undamaged?" Starfire asked worriedly.

"I'm fine Red, though I wasn't kiddin when I said I was hungry."

"Then I shall make with the haste and order the pizza!" Starfire declared before floating off.

"I like that one, she's real chipper." Wade said as Starfire left the room.

"Yeah Garfield said following who he assumed was his girlfriend "Star never lets anything get her down for long, and Rae, Rae is the sensible one of the three of us." He said pulling the empath closer as he walked back into the living room, and causing her to blush.

"Damn you guys totally fucked this place up. We're gonna have to replace the tv, gamestation, and the window. Not to mention the couch." Garfield said before letting go of Raven and flipping the couch back over.

"Yeah well, you can thank Mr. Trigger Happy for the mess." Frank said before slapping Deadpool upside the head and continuing "I was about ready to call you when he yelled out something about death before dishonor and fish tacos or some crazy shit like that and then opened fire on your friends."

Garfield massaged his eyes as he said "God dammit Uncle Wade!"

The Merc with a Mouth shrugged "What, you know better than to let me near loaded guns when I'm hungry. Cause when I get hungry, my trigger finger starts to itch."

"Speaking of itchy trigger fingers, did you guys bring my shit?" Garfield asked.

Frank looked around the now wrecked living room, searching for something. Finding it he walked over to the corner of the room and picked up a large black wooden trunk that had a red crosshair painted on its lid and dragged it over to Garfield saying "I dunno how, but your shit was the only thing in the room without even a scratch on it."

"Thanks Frank, you didn't manage to get my bike down here too did you?" He asked hopefully.

Frank smiled "Even better, we brought your bike and your car."

Garfield's face lit up like a kid during Christmas "Have I told you I loved you in a completely familial and totally non gay way recently Uncle Frank?"

The anti-hero smiled a little "Not recently as I recall."

Gar grinned "Well I do."

Frank chuckled "Good to know kid, now get yourself out of that damn spandex suit and into something a bit less..." Frank trailed off awkwardly.

"Gay?" Garfield added helpfully.

Frank nodded "Yep, my thoughts exactly."

Still smiling slightly Garfield left for his room, his trunk in hand leaving his uncles alone with his friends.

Gizmo was a wreck, not only was Mammoth dead, but he was now forever bound to a wheelchair as one of those bullets hit his lower spine, rendering him a paraplegic. After Kidd Wykkyd regained conscientiousness he teleported all the remaining members of the Hive Five from their prison transport to their hideout near the wharf. Never before had the pintsized genius been so thankful for the Boy Blunder having a law book shoved up his ass.

'Cause if he didn't; he probably would've remembered to put meta-human cuffs on Kidd to nullify his powers.' Gizmo's thoughts then fearfully turned to the Titan whoput him in this state. 'What the hell got into snot-skin? He killed Mammoth as easily as swatting away a mosquito and now, now I'm stuck in this damn wheelchair!' he thought bitterly before he sighed.

"Well whatever, the funerals today and I need to finish getting ready." the miniature genius sighed.

Before he could continue however his cellphone rang. Reaching into his pants pocket, he answered it and asked "Hello?"

"Hello Gizmo." a voice as cold as steel came from the other end of the line.

Gizmo immediately tensed he knew who this was. "Hello sir. Sorry about the bank heist but the damn crud eating titans got in our way and-"

He was cut off by the person on the other end of the line saying "Never mind, it doesn't matter as the money was never the primary objective, regardless you and your cohorts shall be paid handsomely for doing as planned."

"Y-yes sir, thank you very much sir." Gizmo managed to get out.

"Ah and one more thing, I'm sorry to hear about Mammoth." The voice said with what could pass for sincerity in its tone.

"Thank you for your condolences sir, now if that's all I need to finish getting ready for the funeral."

"Of course, I'll leave you to your grief...and Gizmo?

"Yes sir?"

"We'll be in touch." The voice said from the other end of the line before it went dead.

"Crud." The midget said to himself as he stared at his now dead phone call.

Jinx was in tears she had been ever since she received a call from See-More telling her what happened to Mammoth. Sure, she may not be a villainess anymore but she didn't want to see any of her former friends dead. Behind bars and possibly reformed? Yes, though that last bit is more of a longshot miracle or a pipedream than possible. She knew the Titans had every right to defend themselves, especially when they were being shot at with military grade weapons, but killing? Even when she was a villain she never killed anyone and then, out of left field comes Beast Boy, who snaps Mammoths neck with 'practiced ease, like he'd done it a million times' was what See-More had told her.

She really wished someone was there to comfort her, but Wally was out. He usually was never inside the tower much saying that staying in one place too long made him jittery.

'Some boyfriend he is.' She thought bitterly 'He's never around half the time and when he is its only to eat a weeks' worth of food in a single sitting, or to flirt with me a bit till he goes back out.'

What was more, Wally thought she was stupid. She thought she didn't notice the smell of another woman's perfume on his clothes or all the hickies on his neck that she sure as hell didn't put there seeing as he had never stuck around long enough to get past first base with her. Yes, being the 'girlfriend' of the fastest teenager alive wasn't all it was cracked up to be, she thought bitterly as she finished putting on an all-black dress complete with long sleeves. Something that was perfect for a funeral, and then proceeded to comb her hair out of its usual horns and smiled happily as it fell all the way down to the middle of her back before she put it in a simple ponytail using a black hair braid.

"Now I just need a ride to Jump...hmm, I've got it!" she said before she when over to the control center and placed a call to Titans' East. As she waited for the call to connect, she started humming the tune to Kenny Rodgers "the Gambler".

'Damn I wish you were here Red. I miss you, I miss you so much. You really knew how to treat a lady right big guy.' She thought wistfully just as her call was patched through...

As Garfield finished dawning his old outfit which was much more comfortable than his old one, he began rummaging through his trunk and was quite surprised to find his old photo album in the bottom of the trunk. When Garfield was younger, he traveled extensively learned many things, saw many wonders and met many interesting people. So to him it was only natural to take as many pictures as possible and keep them in a photo album. With nostalgia running high, he flipped through the book and would chuckle every now and again as he was reminded of an old scene he had forgotten.

He turned the page and what he saw made his mind kick into overdrive. 'Nichole.' He thought longingly as he stroked the largest of the pictures lovingly. She was just as beautiful as he remembered her pale skin, pink catlike silted-eyes, an insatiable love of black gothic clothing, and bright pink hair which she swears is all natural. 'I haven't seen her since...well it's been a damn long time.' He thought as he allowed his mind to drift back down memory lane...

It was a slightly humid day in July, the Country Fair had come to jump City and everyone was out having a good time. Children ran around playing games or dragging their parents to rigged games to try and win a prize. A thirteen year old boy with messy blonde hair and blue eyes sat on a bench as he watched all of this, his head swiveling left then right, then back again. Seemingly at ease, yet totally aware of his surroundings; which is why, when Garfield heard a cry for help he got up and made his way towards the source of the noise.

What he found was a girl around his age, clothed in a brown sundress surrounded by a group older children of all of which were holding various makeshift weapons, and circling around her menacingly like wolves waiting to go in for the kill. Sighing in annoyance, he stepped forward and after clearing his throat asked "Is something wrong here?"

The punks turned to him and the biggest, probably the alpha male of the group, sauntered forward a weasely little grin on his face as he said "Nope no problem here friend, just teaching this freak here to stay away from normal people and stick to her own kind."

Garfield stepped forward; paying no mind to the crowd of armed civilians he got a closer look at the girl. He was incorrect on his first assumption she wasn't wearing a brown sundress, but a worn piece of cloth so covered in mud and dirt that it was stained brown. Her hair was a vibrant pink as were her eyes and her pupils were silted like a cat's.

She looked frightened and scared of him, which wasn't surprising as he had an emotionless look on his face. After another silent moment Garfield said "You ok?"

Her eyes widening in surprise momentarily she nodded mutely. Receiving conformation that she was ok, Garfield turned back to the gang and said "Fuck off, she's with me."

"What the, why you little mutie lover!" The Alpha said as he came in swinging with a rusty lead pipe aimed at his head, only for him to easily duck under the sloppy blow and deliver a gut wrenching strike to the older boy's solar plexus with the palm of his hand, and then following it up quickly with a roundhouse kick to the stunned boy's lower jaw where a sickening 'snap' was heard, signifying his jaw was broken. But still Garfield wasn't done. He then quickly picked up the pipe the boy had dropped, and swinging it with all of his might, struck the boy on his chin and knocking him flat on his ass, as well as completely shattering his jaw, breaking several of his teeth, and knocking him out.

Garfield then looked at the rest of the punks and asked "Whose next?"

They all took one look at their broken and bloodied leader before they all threw down their weapons and bolted from the scene, not even bothering to take their fallen with them. After they'd left Garfield turned to the girl he'd saved, who was looking at the him now with a face akin to horror and shock, before he offered her his hand and said "Don't worry, they won't bother you anymore."

The girls' response was to throw herself at him and cry into his shoulder for a good twenty minutes. After she had calmed down, Garfield took her hand and led her towards the flea market that was a part of the fair and once they arrived he said "Go ahead and pick out some clothes."

The girl, who still hadn't said a single word, looked at him shocked. Her eyes then narrowed and she put her hands on her hips and glared at him accusingly as if saying 'what's the catch?'

Garfield smiled ever so briefly and said "No catch, I see someone in trouble and I help them that's all there is to it. Now, go pick out some clothes."

The girls' response was to smile broadly at him and hug him again before she walked among the stalls trying to find something she wanted. Eventually she settled on a durable black and purple outfit, some matching black and purple striped stockings, and black and purple boots. Garfield happily paid for everything before leading her to another nearby stall one that was apparently geared towards women as there were currently several of them having everything from their hair to their fingernails done.

Walking up the woman in charge, he asked "Excuse me miss, but do you think you could help out my friend she's in serious need of a spa day." He said moving aside to display the girl who was hiding behind him.

"Good Lord, son you weren't kiddin! Don't you worry we'll fix her right up. C'mon hun, let's get you looking presentable for your date."

Garfield could only chuckle as he watched the mute girls' face go red when the older woman said the word 'date'.

Roughly an hour and a half later, she returned wearing the clothes he'd bought her. Her hair was framing her face and hung down to her shoulders. He couldn't help but feel like something was missing so he walked over to another stall and looking over the items presented he bought three of things and then headed back to his little tagalong handing her the bag while saying "Here, I thought you could use these."

She glanced inside the bag briefly before letting out a squeal and hugging him once again letting the contents of the paper bag roll out onto the floor. Within the brown paper bag were two hair bands and a choker that had a large round piece of amethyst hanging from it. After she calmed down she picked up the items in question and used one of the hair bands to put her hair in a simple ponytail, the other she placed on her wrist like a bracelet. She then offered him the choker and turned around as if saying 'Put it on me will you?'

Smiling slightly Garfield did just that, putting his arms around her. His need for closeness let him allowed him to smell the strawberry shampoo the woman used in her hair and the scent of dove soap on her skin. He felt himself heating up for some unknown reason, but he ignored it and gently placed the choker around her neck before hooking the clasp together.

Turning her around so as to admire his handiwork, Garfield couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Ok, now let's go get something to eat. I don't know about you, but I'm starved." He said gently taking her hand and leading her toward the concession stands.

Only to find that she refused to move, she gave him an odd look one full of confusion and suspicion but mostly confusion before she said the first word she'd ever spoken to him "Why?" she asked her voice hoarse from misuse.

Garfield smiled as warmly as he could manage and said "Because I was in your position once, and someone was kind enough to help me. It just wouldn't feel right if I ignored someone in the same position that I once was. Do you understand?" he asked.

Slowly, she nodded and said quietly "Yes."

Garfield nodded "good, now do you wanna get something to eat?"

"YES!" she screamed happily before dragging him the rest of the way to the concession stands

It was only after his second chilidog and her sixth that he remembered something, causing himself to slap himself in the head and for her to look at him oddly.

"I just realized I never asked you my name! I'm Red Wilson, who are you?" he asked politely.

"Nichole." She said after finishing her sixth chili dog.

Garfield raised an eyebrow and asked "Just Nichole, no last name?"

"Nichole Diaz." She said before she let out a slight belch from her rapid consumption of chilidogs, causing her to blush.

Garfield chuckled nodding in acceptance before looking at his wristwatch and asking "Nichole would you like to go on the Ferris wheel with me?"

She smiled warmly "Sure."

The two made their way to the Ferris wheel and just before they got in Garfield gave the bored teenage operator a twenty and said "Stop it at the top, understand?"

"Whatever you say chief." The kid said as he pocketed the money with a smile.

The two teens rode the machine to its apex until it stopped once it did; Garfield reached into the satchel at his side and started assembling something. It soon took the shape of a silenced and scoped sniper rifle which he then aimed its muzzle towards a large wooden stage upon which a man in a fine suit spoke to a gathered crowd. Just before he was about to pull the trigger he heard a voice ask "Why?"

Garfield, without looking towards Nichole answered "Because that man down there, he's a corrupt politician. One who's been accepting money from gangsters, drug cartels, and others to look the other way as they peddle their drugs to unsuspecting little children and kill anyone who stands against them. He also has known connections to a human trafficking ring based here in Jump. If he dies the criminal scum of this city lose their biggest backer and the human trafficking ring falls apart without him to support it."

He looked at Nichole for a moment before he said "I'm doing this to protect people I've never even met. By killing one I save hundreds if not thousands."

Nichole looked at him long and hard for a moment. Garfield could feel the tension mounting in his chest as he waited for her to make her decision. If she chose to try and stop him he'd have to knock her out, which is something he didn't relish doing as though he'd only known her a few hours, he rather enjoyed her company.

Finally she nodded and said "Do it."

Garfield smiled at her warmly and said "Thanks Nichole." Before he turned back to his scope aligning the corrupt politicians' head in his crosshairs for a moment...before he took a deep steadying breath...and pulled the trigger, changing the course of history for Jump City and Nichole Diaz in the process...

Suddenly he shot bolt upright like he had just been tazed in the balls. "Oh, shit! Nichole!" he yelled out loud before he armed himself with as many weapons and as much ammunition as he could before racing towards the living room.

The others looked up as the living room door swished open to reveal Garfield wearing black riot gear, on the chest a crimson skull one eye of which was made to look like a crosshair. Over his armor he wore a red leather trench coat. Attached to his riot gear in various place were numerous guns. He had an AK-47 sung over his shoulder, two 1911 colts in underarm holsters he had two bandoliers crisscrossing his body which held various types of ammo, a sawn off shot gun placed in a boot holster on his left foot, on his waist sat a belt holding several frag grenades, strapped to his left leg was a 40mm grenade launcher, and on his right hip sat a loaded Uzi 10mm machine gun.

The Titans could only stare at Garfield in complete and total shock. He looked ready to go out and take over a third world country, and win. Deadpool and the punisher however merely glanced at each other, sharing the same thought with a glace.

'He's back!' they thought as they smiled broadly.

Raven was the first of the titans to find her voice as she asked Garfield who made his way to the computer and started rapidly typing something in the computer. "Garfield is everything alright?"

Upon finding what he was looking for, he turned to Frank and said rapidly "I need the keys to my bike."

"Garfield I asked you a question." Raven said annoyed at being ignored.

Garfield briefly met her eyes and when he did, raven could see a fierce determination in them. "An old friend of mine could be walking into a lion's den. So I'm going to go and make sure she comes out ok." He said shortly before absentmindedly catching his keys which were thrown to him by Frank.

As he made his way out the door and towards the elevator, he looked back and said "If you wanna know what's going on Rae, then I suggest you follow me." He said before donning a black matte skull shaped metal helmet that had the right eye splashed with crimson paint as if to imitate blood splatter, in which was before he kept walking.

Raven sighed in annoyance as Cyborg whistled before saying "Who was that, because he couldn't have been the grass stain."

Frank just grinned as he stepped forward and said "That's because you've never seen Garfield serious. That Cyborg was Garfield Mark Logan; also known as the underworlds reaper and one of the most respected and feared assassins to pop up in the last decade. That was Red Eye." Frank finished with pride.

All the color drained from the human side of Cyborgs face when he heard the name. "You-You're kidding me right?" he pleaded.

Frank shook his head in response. This caused Cyborg to collapse into the ruined couch and placed his head in his hands.

"Friend Cyborg what troubles you?" Starfire asked concerned.

Cyborg merely shook his head in response and said "I can't believe it, I just can't believe the Grass Stain is the person you just said he was. Its just not possible."

"What do you mean Friend Cyborg? What does the name Red Eye mean to you?" The princess asked.

Cyborg, who still looked like he'd just seen a ghost, replied "He's an assassin for hire Star, one whose very good at killing his target and will go to any means to do it, including shooting down a 747 jumbo jet full of innocent people with a rocket launcher in Chicago, imploding a motel and killing all of its residents, and rumors say he even poisoned the water supply of a small community in Idaho killing everyone just to get at one woman. Over his six years of known activity he racked up a body count numbering in the tens of thousands."

Starfire shook her head more and more as Cyborg spoke 'It is not possible for Friend Garfield to do such terrible things' she told herself.

"What do you think Friend Raven?" the princess asked, when she received no answer she asked "Friend Raven?"

"The Goth chick left about five minutes ago with Jr." Deadpool replied.

Her emerald eyes widening Starfire said "We must make with the haste and follow them in case they are needing the backup! Come Friend Cyborg!" She said rushing towards the garage.

"I'll be along in a sec Star!" He hollered before turning to Frank and asking "Is even half the shit they say about him true?"

Frank looked Cyborg in the eyes and said "More than half, but before you fly off the handle and judge him Cyborg; you should know that Garfield believed that what he was doing by killing those people was the right thing. That by making sure his targets died he could in turn prevent the loss of hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of lives."

"Kill one save a thousand?" the Titan asked.

Frank nodded "Pretty much yeah."

"I see, thanks Frank. Now if you'll excuse me; I'd better hurry up and go rescue the grass stain." Cyborg said before rushing down the hall where Starfire was waiting impatiently.

Watching him go Frank quietly chuckled to himself saying "Garfield won't need saving Cyborg, but the people he's shooting at might."

Meanwhile Raven was seriously contemplating her boyfriend's sanity as he swerved like a maniac around a street corner in the strangest contraption she had ever been inside. Garfield told her it was called a T-rex 16-S, a three wheeled motorcycle that was made up in Canada by a company called Campagna.

It certainly lived up to the name as it possessed three wheels two in the front and one in the back and its body was streamlined to be aerodynamic, being wide in the back before narrowing to a cone shape in the front. According to Garfield, this 'bike' of his possessed a six cylinder BWM engine capable of going upwards of 250mph, six speed transmission, a cockpit that had a dashboard, sports car steering wheel, glove box, side by side seating in very nice leather seats that had three point harnesses' attached to them, which was probably the only thing keeping Raven inside the vehicle as it had no doors. Oh and it also had a radio which was currently blaring "Down with the Sickness" by Disturbed as its Flaming Red paint job became a red blur at the speed Garfield was going.

'It has no doors, and is on three wheels, but it has a steering wheel and a radio. I'm half tempted to blow this thing up if Garfield doesn't kill me with his driving first.' Raven though angrily.

She looked up, only to find that they were now driving on the sidewalk "Gar, get us back on the road you idiot!" she yelled at him as he narrowly avoided hitting pedestrians as he drove down the sidewalk.

Finally having enough of his reckless behavior, she encased the motorcycle in her black aura forcing it to a standstill, causing Gar to look at her and ask "What's the deal Rae? We need to get moving!"

"We aren't going anywhere Garfield until you do two things the first of which is calm down." Raven said sharply.

The changeling glared at the sorceress for a moment before taking a deep breath and letting it out, and doing so again and again until Raven felt his emotions calm then she said "Good, now for the second thing, you're going to tell me where we are going in such a hurry."

"Rae, we don't have time to-"he was cut off by the demoness snapping "Then make time Garfield!"

The two stared off again for several seconds before Gar sighed and said "An old friend of mine could be in deep trouble and I wanna be there to look after her and make sure nothing goes down."

Raven nodded before asking "Does this friend of yours have a name?"

"Her name's Nichole Diaz, but you know her better by a different name." he said cryptically.

Raven's eyes narrowed in thought. 'So, I've met her before... could it be?'

"Is it Terra?" Raven asked suddenly becoming hostile.

"What, no! Seriously Rae it's not her!" He swore. "You met Nichole long before you met Terra, I believe the first thing she said to you was, 'You fight like a boy.' if that helps."

Ravens' eyes widened in realization as there was only one person who ever told her she fought like a boy...

"You know Jinx's real name?" Raven asked incredulously.

Garfield just shrugged "Well, I knew her before she was Jinx, Rae. Now, we really need to get to the church so can we get going please? I promise to be more careful."

Raven nodded and true to his word Garfield's driving was much less hectic than before even though he was still driving well above the speed limit.

"Something wrong Rae? You're awfully quiet." Gar said after a moment.

"Rachel."

"Hmm?" he asked not taking his eyes from the road.

Raven cleared her throat and said "My name, its Rachel Roth. If I have to call you Garfield you need to call me Rachel ok?" she said mimicking his words from the other day.

Garfield looked at her sideways "Rachel huh? It suits you, but I like Rae better."

"You can call me Rae if you want; I just thought it was only fair you knew my name since I know yours." The empath told him.

Gar smirked at her "Yeah and me knowing Jinx's and Koriand'r's real names and not yours had no weight on this decision right?" he asked sarcastically.

"Just shut up and drive." Raven responded, causing Garfield to laugh.

Finally they arrived at the church where mammoth's burial was to take place. It was a moderate sized building covered in white siding with a cross on its steeple shaped roof.

Garfield unbuckled his seatbelt, and then got out of the car. He looked back at Raven who hadn't moved and was looking at the building uneasily.

"Something wrong Rae?" he asked while looking over his guns to make sure they were loaded and that the safeties were off.

"I'm not sure I'm going to be of much use Garfield." She said hesitantly.

He quirked an eyebrow and asked "Why not?"

Raven sighed and said "I'm half demoness, chances are if I step foot on holy ground, my powers will be ineffective." She explained.

"Ah, well no worries Rae. I never intended to involve you in what might go down here anyway. So just sit tight and let me handle this alright?" he said reassuringly.

Raven frowned "I don't like the idea of you going into a dangerous situation without backup gar."

Suddenly the T-Car pulled up next to BB's bike. Cy rolled down the window and said "Did someone call for backup?"

"Cy, what are you doing here dude?" Gar asked confused.

It was Starfire who made her way around the T-car who answered "We followed you Garfield." She said before she slapped him.

"Ouch...painful, what was that for Star?" he asked confused about the aliens' behavior.

"That was for running off without the rest of us without explaining anything, having a plan, or taking the backup, Garfield. What if you had gotten hurt?" she said angrily.

Garfield felt slightly guilty. 'Dammit, I never wanted Rae or Star to worry about me, then again they don't know what I'm capable of. Maybe it's time to show them what I'm made of.' He thought to himself.

"Sorry for not filling you in Star, but I honestly don't think I'm gonna need back up here. I can handle these guys. The only thing strong with them are their virginities." He mocked.

"Now, just sit back and relax while I go and rescue...Nichole?" he asked suddenly seeing the very girl he was just talking about show up in a rigshaw being pulled by...Mas y Menos?

'What the fuck?' was the thought in everyone's mind including Jinx's as she stared at Garfield with a look that can only be described as shock.

She stumbled out of the rigshaw and slowly made her way towards Garfield like a woman possessed, her pink catlike eyes never leaving his face. Finally she got to him and slowly touched his face. With tears collecting in her eyes she asked "Red is that really you?"

He smiled and nodded saying "Yeah, it's me Nicki."

Jinx suddenly kissed him. "I thought...you were...dead stupid!" she said in-between liplocks.

"Friend Jinx; not that it is not glorious to see you, but why are you kissing Boyfriend Garfield?" Starfire asked curiously.

This reminded the former villainess that the two of them weren't actually alone. She turned to answer the Tamaraneans question only for a thought to cross her mind 'Did she call him Garfield?'

"Starfire, I think you're confused, his name is Red, Red Wilson not Garfield." Jinx explained.

Only for the Tamaranean to shake her head "No Friend Jinx, I am quite sure that is Friend Beast Boy's I mean Garfield's real name."

'Wait a minute, Garfield is Beast Boy's real name...and she said Red's name is Garfield which means...' She looked at the man who held her in his arms she noted the similarities. The fang jutting from his lower lip, the naturally messy hair, the glimmer in his eyes that meant he had a joke ready for use.

"Beast Boy?" she asked as her heart slowly broke.

He looked away and said "Yeah, but Nichole-"He was cut off by being given a stinging slap from a very angry Jinx.

"I can't believe you! In all the time we spent together you didn't trust me enough to tell me your real name? What's more I fought you as a Titan how many times and you never once bothered to tell me who you were, that you were alive?!" She screamed as tears rolled down her cheeks, her eyes glowing purple.

"Nichole I-"He was cut off once again by another slap, this one empowered by hex energy, leaving a large welt on his face.

"Shut the hell up you asshole! I thought I could trust you, I thought you weren't like everyone else I'd ever met! You told me I could believe in you, to have faith in you, I did and look what it got me in the end! Stabbed in the back just like every other time! I hate you Red or Garfield or whatever your name is, I HATE YOU!" she screamed before she collapsed on the ground and continued sobbing.

Garfield took a long deep breath both to remind himself that she had just lost a friend, one by his hands and, that he should've been straight up with her in the first place. Leaning down he placed his arms around her in a hug one she resisted every step of the way.

"Let me go, let me go, let me go! I hate you, I hate you, I hate-"This time it was Jinx's turn to be silenced not by a strike, but by Garfield firmly pressing his lips to hers.

She tried to resist, she tried to pull back, but a part of her didn't want to. A part of her wanted this kiss to last forever or that the last few minutes had been a dream. But she knew better, she knew this was no dream, and she also knew that she had never hated and yet loved someone as much as she did him.

He then pulled her into a hug and said "I'm Sorry Nichole, for a lot of things."

She nodded into his chest "I know, but that doesn't change the fact that I still hate you."

"I know." He said

"And the fact that I might never talk to you again." She continued on like she hadn't heard him speak.

"If that is what you want then I'll accept your decision." Garfield said calmly.

"Not to mention the fact that I've basically lost all the trust I had in you."

"If I need to work for the next thousand years to get it back I will. Just tell me where to start." Garfield promised.

Despite all the pain and heartache she was feeling at the moment, Jinx managed to laugh "I'd expect nothing less. She then pulled back from his embrace while still being held in his arms and said "You'd better be ready, because I have every intention of making you work like a dog...Garfield."

"Ahem." Starfire said clearing her throat vocally "I believe the proper earth term would be 'What the fuck is going on', yes?"

"Damn straight Starfire." Raven said as she leveled a glare at a certain merc.

"And that's what we'd love to know too!" A very familiar, very not-dead, screechy voice cried out from the steps of the church.

Garfield untangled himself from Jinx, now was not the time for Garfield Logan or even Beast Boy of the Teen Titans. No, now it was time for Red Eye, the most successful child soldier since...well honestly he couldn't think of any other child soldiers who did even half the shit he did let alone lived as long as he had doing what he used to do.

He reached over and popped open one of the saddle bags on his bike and pulled out his helmet, staring at it a moment before pulling it over his face. Garfield Logan was dead for the moment, and all the kindness and compassion he had just died with him. When he turned to face what remained of the Hive Five, he wasn't looking to talk, he wasn't about to crack some stupid joke, or turn into an animal and go charging into their ranks. Instead, he walked forward as said in a voice as cold as ice that was made even more sinister by a built in voice scrambler "Let her in, she's here to pay her last respects."

Gizmo who was in a wheelchair being flanked by Private Hive, Billy Numerous, Kidd Wykkyd, and a rather reluctant looking See-More; merely said "Pff, no friggin way snot-breath! She lost the right to attend any of our funerals the day she turned her back on us."

Gizmo expected the new guy to get angry or to yell out bird brains stupid 'Titans' Go!' catchphrase before he led the charge against them. But instead he merely said "In that case, I have one question."

"What is it chrome dome?"

"The question isn't for you half-pint it's for the hick in red spandex." He said nodding towards Billy Numerous.

"Me? What is it?" Billy asked while pointing to himself.

"If you or one of your clones got their dicks shot off, would all of you feel the pain?" he asked.

"Huh?" That was all Billy managed to say before he was screaming at the top of his lungs with his hands covering the bloody remnants of his groin which had just been shot.

Standing there holding the literal smoking gun, was Red Eye; one of his 1911's in hand. "Well, I guess we'll never know now will we?" he said before he shot Billy in the head, silencing him permanently.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! Kill that fucking crud muncher now!" Gizmo screamed as he began to wheel his chair away.

"Got it Sir!" Private Hive said as he charged the unknown assailant, attempting to strike him with his shield, only for him to block it with...

"Sir, is that a shotel?" Hive asked upon seeing the semicircular sickle like blade that blocked his attempt to crush them man in front of him.

"Why yes, yes it is." Red Eye said before he used his blade's curvature to yank Hive's shield to the side before he plunged the point of his sword into the side of Hive's throat and forcibly ripped it out, nearly beheading him in the process.

He then turned to See-More and Kyd Wykkyd and said "You have two options, leave or end up like those three."

"Three, you only killed two of us today snot-"Bang! The sound of Red Eye's colt was the last thing Gizmo ever heard as a bullet lodged itself right in-between the pint-sized inventors' eyes.

He then turned back to the final two remaining members of the Hive Five and said "As I was saying, you have two options, what'll it be boys?"

The Kidd and See-More shared a look and without any words spoken, teleported away from the massacre. When all was said and done, three more members of the Hive Five lay dead, and all it took was three shots from a one of his trusty 1911 colts, and a bit of blood on Giza Sikukuu which was Swahili for Dark Feast.

Holstering his pistol and wiping Private Hive's Blood off on the now dead super villains' uniform before he sheathed it, its job done...for now. When he turned back around and saw the shocked look on everyone else's faces he couldn't help but say "I think they're gonna need a bigger grave."


End file.
